Oakland Mills senior guard Destiny Macharia stepped to the free-throw line with just over two minutes remaining and the Scorpions leading River Hill by seven.

Her second of two shots swished in, bringing about a sense of relief in Macharia and a joyous celebration from nearly everyone else. Her teammates swarmed her near the foul line while Oakland Mills athletics and activities manager Troy Stevenson announced to the crowd that Macharia just scored her 1,000th career point. Soon after, Macharia posed with a 1,000-point poster alongside her teammates, which elicited another large reaction from the home crowd.

But Monday’s job wasn’t done. Oakland Mills needed to reset and couldn’t take its eye off the greater task with No. 10 River Hill looking to rally. However, the Scorpions were able to refocus and closed out a 47-37 statement win.

Monday’s victory was long awaited for the Scorpions who returned all five starters from last season. The group vividly remembers last year’s two losses to the Hawks, including a lopsided defeat in the Class 3A South Region II final that ended their season.

“We used last year as motivation for every game we play,” Macharia said. “We want to make it to the state championship. That playoff game last year really resonated with us.”

For much of Monday, Oakland Mills (11-3) flipped the script from last season’s defeats and controlled the game. It was no surprise that the Scorpions, who entered as Howard County’s top scoring defense (35.9 points per game), relied on their defense.

Oakland Mills spends the first hour of every practice working on defense and coach Mike Coughlan began the season with a two-hour practice entirely dedicated to defense to set the tone with his team. It translated to a 15-point halftime lead with the Hawks (9-3) scoring only 12 first-half points.

Other girls basketball scores

Towson 47, Catonsville 39:Towson sophomores Sophia Williams and Madden SySantos took center stage in the second half to help the Generals rally from a four-point halftime deficit to a 47-39 victory over host Catonsville on Monday night.

Williams had 12 of her game-high 17 points in the second half when the Generals (12-3) outscored the Comets 26-14. She also added 10 rebounds and teammate Leila Franklin grabbed eight boards as Towson outrebounded the Comets 30-22. Aryanna Ewbanks led the Comets (8-10) with 10 rebounds.

“I was just trying to be aggressive the entire time and get the rebounds — and it was Leila, too,” said Williams, who benefitted from the Generals’ precise ball movement in the second half. “I think that’s just how we got in the flow of it and we got more comfortable with what we were doing and realized what was working.”

“She plays underneath and she’s the quarterback for our defense,” Towson coach Tim Gavin said. Williams scored eight points and hauled in five rebounds in the third quarter when the Generals took a 35-33 lead.

“[Williams] is a very smart basketball player and she’s a great finisher. In our 1-3-1, she plays underneath and she’s the quarterback for our defense,” Towson coach Tim Gavin said “She will talk during halftime and timeouts and she can make all the adjustments. She is just a very high-IQ player. She doesn’t take very many bad shots and is just a hustler.”

— Craig J. Clary

Westminster 46, Francis Scott Key 43: Regardless of how physical a team might choose to play them with a size advantage, or how the offense might get disrupted once the reigning Carroll County Player of the Year gets face-guarded, the Westminster Owls keep things simple in crucial moments of games.

“We just play basketball,” Gassman said.

Whenever the Westminster and Francis Scott Key girls basketball teams meet, some of the best basketball of the season is played as both teams leave it all on the court, in pursuit of a county title. In the pair’s second matchup of the season, Xaviah Burgee’s 3-pointer with 35 seconds left gave Westminster the 46-43 win Monday night.

“I know it’s not a shot I normally take,” Burgee, who finished with eight points, said. “But I’ve been practicing and even if I missed, my team would have gotten the rebound.”

Gassman led Westminster with 17 points. With the win, the Owls (12-2, 7-1) are now in sole possession of first place in the county standings as Francis Scott Key slips to 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the league.

— Timothy Dashiell

Manchester Valley 38, Century 27

Long Reach 61, Guilford Park 40

Wilde Lake 43, Marriotts Ridge 22

Howard 70, Hammond 47

Mt. Hebron 40, Centennial 29

Atholton 52, Glenelg 49

Boys basketball

Mt. Hebron 58, Centennial 52: Mt. Hebron senior twins Kenny and Tai Akinlosotu will be among the first to tell you that it doesn’t take much to get up for a matchup against rival Centennial.

But, when adding in the context of it being against another one of Howard County’s top teams, Monday evening’s road showdown against the Eagles in front of a packed crowd had the full attention of the brothers and the entire Vikings’ team long before the opening tip.

Kenny and Tai combined to score all 14 of Mt. Hebron’s points in the opening quarter, setting a physical tone on the way to developing a lead that the Vikings never lost over the final 24 minutes in a 58-52 victory.

“This was a statement game, no doubt,” Kenny said. “We wanted to show that we can play our game against the big teams, too and our coaches have been pushing us every day at practice to make sure that we are ready for games like this.”

Kenny Akinlosotu finished with a team-high 20 points, while Tai joined him in double figures scoring 11.

Centennial, which was led by a game-high 26 points from senior Josh Frazier, cut its deficit to four points late in the second half. Ultimately, every time the Eagles got close the Vikings had an answer.

An emphatic dunk by Kenny Akinlosotu with 23 seconds left effectively ended any comeback hopes.

With the interdivisional victory, Mt. Hebron (12-2) has won 10 straight games against county competition since losing its season opener against Atholton. The Vikings are chasing the program’s first county title since the 2002-03 season.

“Everything we’ve preached from the very beginning has started with belief. Getting them to buy in and believe that they are capable of being exactly where they are right now,” said Mt. Hebron coach Malik Gilmore, who has helped the Vikings’ improve their record every season since taking over the program four years ago. “Rome wasn’t built overnight and neither was this. This success is the culmination of years of hard work.”

— Brent Kennedy, for The Baltimore Sun

Aberdeen 63, Edgewood 55

Harford Tech 53, North Harford 51

North East 66, Fallston 61

Annapolis Area Christian School 70, St. Mary’s 58

Severn 55, Curley 49

Spalding 73, Calvert Hall 54

Gerstell 52, St. John’s 51

Westminster 78, Francis Scott Key 57

Reservoir 60, Kenwood 59

River Hill 55, Oakland Mills 41

Guilford Park 68, Long Reach 61

Atholton 65, Glenelg 61

Hammond 65, Howard 62

Towson 55, Catonsville 54

Marriotts Ridge 61, Wilde Lake 56

Wrestling

Chesapeake-AA 47, Annapolis 21: Many high school boys — particularly lacrosse players and wrestlers — bleach their hair blonde on the eve of the postseason when they’re confident they’ll go far.

Imagine how bold Chesapeake wrestling — now 30-0 — must feel to dye their heads over a week before the dual tournament?

“Well, we said the ones that did that, they better show up,” coach Randy Curtin said. “They have to back it up on the mat.”

In another and potentially last true crossroad before the postseason begins, the Cougars demonstrated why they were right to crack open the chemicals early. Chesapeake’s middleweights matched the strength of Annapolis’ order well, forcing decisions where the Panthers shot for pins or pulled out key victories themselves. It ultimately led to a 47-21 victory.

Annapolis coach Tom Sfakiyanudis scrawled out every mathematical chance for victory against the visiting juggernauts on Monday. Starting with Mikey Groszkowski at 132 pounds set the right tone with a pin. Sfakiyanudis knew once Chesapeake trotted out its lightweights, the Cougars would sweep — and they did.

“Down low, they’re really tough. We needed to have a near-perfect performance to have a shot,” Tom Sfakiyanudis said. “But afterward, I told my guys I’m proud of them. To hang with a good team like Chesapeake through most of it is a good setup for the postseason, right?”

Randy Curtin admittedly understood a good portion of his wrestlers were still recovering from the flu. Nonetheless, with only three duals to go before the regional tournament begins, the Cougars intend to be nothing less than perfect.

“We know what our team is, how good we are and how we can perform out there,” Richardson said. “We’re very confident we’re going to go out there and win states.”

— Katherine Fominykh

Arundel 38, Old Mill 36

To submit scores and stats, email mdscores@baltsun.com with a full box score, including first and last names of the players.