By Mark Giannotto; WASHINGTON POST

Georgetown Visitation girls’ basketball Coach Mike McCarthy always wants junior Sydney Love-Baker to shoot the ball more because she’s “got the nicest stroke on the team.” But too often she’ll pass up open looks, which drives McCarthy to nag her even more.

But the message finally seemed to get through Sunday, and the development couldn’t have worked out better for the Cubs.

No. 8 Georgetown Visitation blew open the ISL AA championship game after halftime, cruising to a 55-36 win over No. 20 Bullis in Potomac to capture its 10th straight conference title. Love-Baker’s three three-pointers off the bench ignited the Cubs, who used a 17-2 surge during the opening six minutes of the third quarter to turn a taut defensive battle into a rout.

“Once you hit one, and the rest of the team gets going and the crowd was wild, the energy is better and the enthusiasm gets better and that makes it a lot better for everybody else,” said Love-Baker, who had 13 points.

Georgetown Visitation (25-3) opened the game with an 11-2 run and overcame a size disadvantage by beating the Bulldogs down in transition. Bullis (21-7) battled back to tie the score late in the second quarter, feeding freshman Malu Tshitenge-Mutombo (10 points) inside.

But the Cubs’ defense was stifling, and it got a boost from junior Maeve Carroll (12 points) and senior Alexis Gray (11 points), who banked in a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer that “sparked our energy” in the second half, Love-Baker said.

“Being able to win it all four years, and being able to go out as champions, is just great,” Gray said

ALLMET