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In the annual double-header between the boys' and girls' basketball teams from the county's two Potomac Valley Athletic Conference schools, the Grace Brethren girls and Queen Anne boys each emerged victorious.

In the opening game the Grace Brethren girls (10-6) vaulted to a commanding early lead en route to a 76-47 victory. It was only the second game this season for Grace Brethren senior Andrea Jones, the school's all-time leading scorer, who is recovering from a pair of surgeries on a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.

"Getting Andrea back last Friday was a big boost," said Grace Brethren coach Jeff Perry. "We really needed her leadership out on the floor. She's still not at 100 percent, but she's getting in better shape with every practice and she's already going a great job of running the offense. Without her, we just didn't have that same chemistry or discipline on the floor."

Jones returned on Jan. 29 to help guide the Eagles past Field on the night forward Destiny Banks joined her in the school's 1,000-point club. Jones has scored more than 2,000 points in her career at Grace Brethren, and against Field, Banks became only the seventh girl in the school's history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Banks is the team's leading scorer this season, averaging 17.5 points per game.

Monday evening, Banks and Jones were prominent from the outset as Grace Brethren ended the first quarter with a 23-9 lead and extended that advantage to 43-22 at halftime. The Eagles stretched the lead to nearly 30 points in the third quarter and led by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter en route to their fourth consecutive victory.

Ramey, Haley pace Queen Anne boys

In the boys' game that followed, each team won two quarters of play, but Queen Anne edged away from Grace Brethren, 68-59, behind 19 points from freshman Justin Ramey and 18 points and 25 rebounds from senior Larry Haley.

In a game filled with numerous runs and momentum swings, Grace Brethren (6-12) led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lions roared back to assume a 31-26 halftime advantage.

Queen Anne (13-9) stretched its lead to 10 points at 45-35 midway through the third period only to watch the Eagles score the last 11 points of the quarter to take a 46-45 lead into the final period.

Queen Anne opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 53-46 lead and the two teams traded baskets and free throws over the last six minutes. The Lions' lead stayed between five and 10 points during that span, as the visitors connected on 20 of 34 free throws while the Eagles went 9 of 20 from the line in the contest.

"This is always a tough place for us to play," said Queen Anne coach Dave Montgomery. "I know it's always a rivalry game and the lighting is this gym is a little different, but Grace Brethren is always ready to play us. They had won two games in a row coming into tonight, so they've been playing better of late. We got a little complacent after we had that 10-point lead in the third quarter, but I thought we got control of the game back early in the fourth quarter. We still have three league games left and then we'll see how we can do in the PVAC tournament."

Queen Anne has not won the PVAC's Southern Division title since 1996, but the Lions are on the verge of ending that drought. They travel to Hebrew Academy on Tuesday before hosting Edmund Burke and Field next week. Wins in two of those three contests would give the Lions the division title and the top seed in that bracket, with the winner likely to face unbeaten Jewish Day in the PVAC final.

Grace Brethren raced to a 12-3 first-quarter lead behind Corey Henson and Jordan Frierson, but the Lions clawed back to within 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.

A short jumper by Frierson gave the hosts a 21-18 lead less than two minutes into the second period, but the Lions outscored the Eagles, 13-5, over the next 6 minutes by limiting Grace Brethren to one field goal, a layup by Kyle Bright with 22 seconds left in the half. The Eagles' Nicholas Fleming went 3 of 6 from the foul line during that span, but Haley scored six points for the Lions and Ramey added four.

Queen Anne appeared to take control of the contest midway through the third quarter with an 8-0 run on baskets from Haley, Ramey and Lloyd Bramble. But the Eagles countered with an 11-0 run to close out the period, with Frierson scoring six points and Christian Locke the other five, including a 3-pointer.