Here are The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro girls basketball teams for the 2024-25 season:

Player of the Year

Milan Brown, Mercy, senior, guard: Looking back on its unforgettable final moments, Milan Brown’s final high school game resembled a fictional Hollywood film. She entered the contest, with Mercy already out of postseason contention, needing 33 points and 10 rebounds — not far off from her season averages — to get to 2,000 and 1,000 career points and rebounds. Brown was already her school’s all-time leading scorer, a milestone she reached earlier in the season. This was the final reachable feat left.

Brown’s team knew how close she was. Coaches and teammates agreed it would be their goal that night to get her there. “We really want this for you. We wanna get the win, but this is our priority,” she recalled them telling her. “I can’t thank them enough for that.”

She was three points away from the historic mark with less than a minute to play after passively tracking her totals in her head throughout the game. Mercy inbounded with 15 seconds remaining and drew up a play to get Brown an open 3-pointer. It worked, but she was fouled on the shot. She’d need to connect on a trio of free throws instead of one 3-pointer.

Brown drained all three to end her career with exactly 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.

“It’s the most pressure I’ve ever had,” she said. “It really is a scene out of a movie.”

The senior guard and Wake Forest commit experienced it all throughout her four years. As a freshman, she helped Mercy win the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference championship to move up to the A Conference. And, as a senior, she averaged more than 30 points and 13 rebounds per contest on her way to being named The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro girls basketball Player of the Year.

“My teammates, first of all, everyone contributing and believing,” Brown said to start an answer about where she credits her success. “Also, of course, my coach who puts everything together. It takes everyone’s commitment.”

Brown entered the 2024-25 season knowing these milestones were within reach. She passed 1,000 career points near the end of her junior season and totaled around 600 points that year. She’d need about 800 her final season to reach 2,000 — not impossible, she thought then, although it “wasn’t my priority,” she said. “I wanted to be in the playoffs and win the championship.”

Mercy’s athletic director called her into his office shortly after the year ended to break down the totals. She realized then what was required of her during her final season to get both the program record and 2,000 points.

Said Brown: “Ever since then, it was in the back of my brain.”

Brown’s aspirations extend beyond basketball. Her X page has “future lawyer” written in the biography section, and she published a children’s book in February that highlights influential Black historical figures.

“I don’t want to be confined to a basketball box,” Brown said. “I have a lot of aspirations. I want to be a lawyer and eventually a politician. I really like the fact that I can use my voice and the platform I’ve achieved from being an athlete and use it to teach and help.”

Brown’s always prioritized academics. She said it’s why she chose Wake Forest: “They believed in me,” she said. “I don’t want to go to a place where I’m just another kid. I want to go to a place where I’m valued.” And it’s why she said she picked Mercy: “Sometimes they wonder why I decided to go to Mercy instead of a powerhouse like St. Frances,” she added. “It was a place I felt I was able to grow.”

And, on the side, Brown just happened to become the school’s best basketball player ever.

Coach of the Year

Trish Armstrong, Mount de Sales: Armstrong led the Sailors to their first IAAM B Conference championship this season, sharing the regular-season crown with John Carroll before winning the tournament title game. It was Mount de Sales’ third regular-season title, but Armstrong’s first championship game victory in her 19 seasons at the helm.

The veteran coach goes back to how the 2023-24 season ended to pinpoint how this year came to be. Mount de Sales fell in the conference semifinal game, a loss that ignited a passion in Armstrong’s players that she’d never seen before.

“It just made the girls really hungry,” she said. “Our job was to steer them in the right direction.”

They were led this year by senior Shelby Lewis, who eclipsed 1,000 career points and became the program’s all-time leading scorer while pushing the Sailors to 23 wins. Despite spending most games being double- and triple-teamed, Armstrong said, Lewis excelled at dishing to teammates and orchestrating a dynamic offense.

“She was black and blue sometimes on her arms,” Armstrong said. “They were after her. She was so selfless.”

Lewis was Mount de Sales’ only full-time basketball player — some on the roster are committed to play other sports in college. In Armstrong, the Sailors have an experienced coach who always had her teams competing for titles. But they’d never broken through. Now she has.

“This is the greatest team I’ve had,” Armstrong said. “They had that mentality, that grit, that drive to get it done.”

First team

Mya Clark, McDonogh, sophomore, forward ; Clark, McDonogh’s leading scorer, averaged 13 points and seven rebounds per game and pushed the Eagles to a second-place finish in the loaded IAAM A Conference’s regular-season standings.

Mone’t Edwards, St. Frances, junior, guard:Edwards was the leading scorer in the Panthers’ IAAM A Conference title game victory, their first since 2020, and averaged 16 points per contest this year.

Bailey Harris, St. Mary’s, junior, guard: Harris, who also made the All-IAAM A Conference team, averaged 23 points and seven rebounds per contest for the Saints.

Mariah Jones-Bey, Pikesville, senior, guard:Jones-Bey led her team to its fifth Baltimore County title in seven years and fifth consecutive Class 1A state title.

Jaylah King, Mount Carmel, freshman, guard:King exploded onto the scene in her debut season and scored 20 points in the IAAM A Conference title game, a narrow loss to St. Frances.

Shelby Lewis, Mount de Sales, senior, forward: Lewis capped her stellar career with an IAAM B Conference championship for the Sailors.

Sydney Sutton, St. Frances, junior, guard: Sutton’s 15 points and five rebounds per game helped propel St. Frances to the IAAM A Conference championship, where she was her team’s second-leading scorer behind Edwards.

Dylan Watson, River Hill, senior, guard: Watson did it all for the Hawks, averaging 22 points, eight rebounds and seven steals per game.

Kiera West, South River, junior, forward:West averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per game in the regular season, then increased those marks to 20 and 10, respectively, in the state tournament to lead South River to a Class 3A state championship.

Sophie Zirkin, Park, senior, guard: Zirkin is one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, sinking what is believed to be a Maryland record 134 triples in 25 games this season. According to MaxPreps, that total was the ninth most in the nation.

Second team

Summer Brooks, Francis Scott Key, senior, guard

Vivian Carrico, John Carroll, senior, guard

Sam Donovan, Edgewood, junior, guard

Tatyana Fields, Milford Mill, senior, guard

Maddy Gassman, Westminster, senior, guard

Arianna Harris-Mott, Pallotti, junior, forward

Jada Russell, McDonogh, sophomore, guard

Heidi Williams, St. Frances, senior, forward

Sara Yarnell, Hammond, senior, forward

Alissa Young, Reservoir, senior, guard

Final Top 15 poll

Rank, team, record, previous rank

1. St. Frances (23-4) 1

2. Rosedale Christian Academy (22-9) 2

3. South River (22-6) —

4. Pikesville (24-4) 4

5. Frances Scott Key (21-8) —

6. Hereford (19-4) —

7. Mount Carmel (16–10) 6

9. Western (22-4) —

10. St. Timothy’s (14-11) 8

11. McDonogh (14-12) 9

12. Mount de Sales (23-6) 10

13. Reservoir (22-4) 7

14. Forest Park (20-5) 12

15. Howard (17-4) 13

Others considered: Poly (14-10), John Carroll (16-5) Towson (14-5), NDP (16-5), Edgewood (16-5)

Baltimore Sun reporter Todd Karpovich contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.