Two years ago, the Clarksburg High girls’ basketball team fell in the Maryland Public Secondary School Athletic Association (MPSSAA) 4A championship game to Baltimore’s Western high school. In February, the Coyotes suffered a painful loss to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High Barons in the Montgomery County championship, relinquishing a 17-point lead.
Both losses were avenged Friday night at the University of Maryland’s Xfinity center, as the Coyotes outlasted the Barons in the final three minutes to capture their high school’s first girls state championship, 43-36.
“Sometimes, when you come up short, you have a little unfinished business,” Coyotes Head Coach Sissy Natoli said. “So, the charge was led by [junior forward London Turner and senior guard Trinity Turner] just putting the energy into their teammates. So this was a sweet victory for us.”
The motivation from Coyotes’ loss to the Barons a month prior was on their minds heading into tonight’s game.
“This was our get-back game,” London Turner said. “We beat them one time. They beat us [in the county championship game] and this is the get-back game.”
London Turner faced the most pressure in Friday’s game. When she was at the free throw line or ball-handling on offense, raucous chants of “o-ver-ra-ted” echoed from the B-CC crowd. When ball-handling near the B-CC bench, players and coaches were clapping their hands in London Turner’s direction, hoping to rattle one of the Coyotes’ leading scorers. She harnessed their energy for herself, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds while drawing eight fouls.
“I mean, honestly, if they want to talk, I love that,” London Turner said. “I really don’t care if you want to talk. That’s my favorite thing because I’ll talk back. I’ll clap back because I’m always feisty. So if you want to bark at me, I’m going to bark back. I love the crowd, even if you’re not on my side. I’m always going to love the crowd. It’s me in my game; it’s never them.”

Along with overcoming the crowd, the Coyotes also had to overcome their long-standing free throw issues. Throughout the state tournament, the foul line had been their greatest weakness. It was again tonight, as they finished 6-of-26 from the line, with London going one of 11. Freshman forward Destiny Turner went 1-of-7, but her final free throw of the night may have been the biggest, extending the Coyotes’ lead to a two-possession game with 46 seconds remaining. Just before the shot, her older sister, Trinity, who went three of four from the stripe, gave her instructions.
“[Trinity] told me to just take my time,” Destiny Turner said. “And if I’m going to jump on my free throw, try and hit the backboard.”
Before Destiny Turner’s free throw, the game had been a back-and-forth battle, featuring nine lead changes, with four in the final frame. But after a shot from the elbow from Barons’ senior forward Riley Petersen with 3:11 on the clock, the Barons were held scoreless. The Coyotes’ defense clung to their assignment. They clogged the paint and passing lanes and outrebounded the Barons to deny second-chance opportunities. The Barons’ shooters had gone cold from the arc, shooting 0-for-6 from the three in the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter has been where the Coyotes play their best basketball all postseason, being outscored just once in their five tournament games. And when it mattered most, in the state championship game, they did so again, outscoring their opponent 13-7, making their playoff fourth-quarter point differential, 75-41.
Notable Stats
Coyotes
Destiny Turner: 13 points, 13 rebounds, four steals
Trinity Turner: 12 points, five rebounds, five steals
London Turner: 11 points, nine rebounds, four steals, eight fouls drawn
Barons
Elisha Robinson: 10 points, three steals
Riley Petersen: eight points, nine rebounds, two steals
Anna Tercyak: eight points, two assists