Past pushes Poly to MPSSAA 3A girls basketball state title

Engineers cap a 26-1 campaign with a state final rout of Oakdale

Kendall Peace-Able rarely likes discussing things from the past. But the longtime Poly girls basketball coach understands how previous happenings help shape the future.

“Failures are things that kind of push you forward,” Peace-Able said. “One thing they learned from the program is resilience, and we are resilient. It’s lessons, and move forward.”

Poly won the Class 3A state crown with a 45-18 victory over Oakdale, capping a 26-1 campaign. Arianna Makumi finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Engineers.

Poly is again the MPSSAA Class 3A girls basketball state champions. The Engineers defeated Oakdale, 45-18, at the University of Maryland, for their second title in three seasons / Photo courtesy of the MPSSAA

Poly scored the first 10 points en route to its second 3A title in three seasons. The Engineers were the only winning team to lead for all 32 minutes on championship weekend.

Last year, Poly lost to Howard in the 3A final. The Engineers, who defeated Howard for their first state championship in 2022, routed Howard in the state quarterfinals two weekends ago.

After graduating arguably its most-decorated class, including Trinity Massenburg (George Mason), Da’Brya Clark (Norfolk State), Riley Holliday (Lincoln) and Taylor Addison (Fort Valley State), Poly returned seven letterwinners this season, led by seniors Makumi, Mickelle Lowry, Amelia Overton and Sierra Georges.

The Engineers, whose only loss came against three-time reigning IAAM A Conference champ McDonogh, relied on defense, a staple under Peace-Able, a 1996 Poly grad.

Saturday, the Engineers held Oakdale to six-of-35 shooting.

“Defense leads to offense. You saw that today,” said Makumi, who had six of Poly’s 17 steals Saturday.

Oakdale lands on the wrong side of history

Oakdale’s first state championship appearance since 2015 was forgettable.

The Frederick County school didn’t make its first field goal until the waning seconds of the first quarter. The Bears made one shot in three of the four quarters.

Their best shooting effort was three-of-16 in the third. Poly scored 20 points off of 24 Oakdale turnovers.

The 18 points scored by Oakdale is the fewest in a state championship game. The modern state tournament (four classifications) began in 1976.

It was a disappointing end to an unlikely run. The Bears (22-6) overcame injuries to win 18 of 19 going into Saturday, including a come-from-behind over Oxon Hill in Wednesday’s semifinals.

“It’s been a great season for us,” Oakdale coach Rob Healy said. “We overcame a lot of adversity and injuries. This has been such an enjoyable group...My biggest disappointment is I felt we could play a lot better than we did. We didn’t have a good showing tonight, and they’re (Poly) a big reason why.”

"We've been in these positions before, where we're down at half, just like our last game, and we fought back and we won it,” said Bears junior guard Emma Carey. “But this game was a little more difficult."