By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C. Metro Area
*Click the Photo and Video links above for multimedia from Friday’s games.
Oakton 78, Freedom-Woodbridge 33
*Click HERE for video from Oakton and Freedom-Woodbridge only.
*Click HERE for photos from Oakton and Freedom-Woodbridge only.
As the nightcap of the Cassel’s Sports Holiday Classic reached the half — with Oakton having the game in hand — Liberty coach John Tone, scouting his next opponent, mouthed one word: “Relentless.”
Only Freedom-Woodbridge could agree more.
The Cougars won for the 10th time in as many games this season with a statement, 78-33 win over the Eagles on Friday, advancing to square off with the Hurricanes in a much-anticipated semifinal.
“Everybody contributes a lot to this team,” said Oakton senior Brianna Johnson, who scored a game-high 17 points. “The new people we have coming to the team help out a lot. It’s just different style of play.
“Our style of play is very fast and it’s portrayed on the court.”
The 45-point win is only slightly more than Oakton’s 37.1 average margin of victory this season.
The Cougars (10-0) score 74.0 points per game. Only Mount Vernon (8-1) — at 64.3 points per game — is within 10 points of Oakton’s game average.
“It’s a definite confidence-feeling for our team, as a whole,” said Johnson, who, at one point in the third quarter, had equaled Freedom’s entire point output. “We know, as players, you can put it all on the court. [Your team] will get it back and you can get back in.”
Added freshman Caroline Coyer, one of seven Cougars to score seven or more points: “Everyone helps each other do well. Maybe I do a lot of things, but there [are] a lot of other people that do everything.
“That’s why we get a lot of 40-point wins.”
With Friday night’s convincing win — Oakton’s fifth by 40 points or more this year — it advances to face Liberty, who wowed the crowd with a 70-42 win over West Potomac, despite bringing only nine players on the four-hour trek from Bethlehem, Pa.
“Our focus is on us,” Johnson said. “We need to focus, as a whole team, on how to get better team.
“We can’t really worry about our opponent.”
Freedom 7 6 9 11 — 33
Oakton 23 21 21 13 — 78
Freedom — Williams 4 1-2 9; Hawk 2 2-2 7; Parker 2 2-3 6; Rivera 2 0-0 5; Collins 2 0-0 4; Jones 1 0-2 2; Stewart 0 0-1 0. Team totals: 13 5-9 33. Oakton — Johnson 7 3-4 17; Stephenson 6 1-2 13; K. Coyer 5 0-0 11; Borojeni 4 1-2 10; Cummins 4 0-0 8; McGartland 3 1-2 8; C. Coyer 3 0-0 7; Mahony 2 0-0 4. Team totals: 34 6-10 78. Three pointers — Freedom 2 (Hawk, Rivera); Oakton 4 (Borojeni, C. Coyer, K. Coyer, McGartland).
Liberty 70, West Potomac 42
*Click HERE for video from Liberty (Pa.) and West Potomac only.
*Click HERE for photos from Liberty (Pa.) and West Potomac only.
Before its first-round game against West Potomac, teams in the Cassel’s Sports tournament field knew little-to-nothing about Liberty, from Bethlehem, Pa.
Two hours later, no one could stop talking about the team.
The Hurricanes blew by the Wolverines, 70-42, had four players in double-figure scoring and connected on six three-pointers.
“It’s nice to see different teams,” Liberty coach John Tone said. “We like to come down and see different opponents. We get away for a few days and this is a nice area. We can take the kids Washington and walk around a little bit. It’ll be a nice weekend.
“But when it’s time to play, it’s time to play. Our defense really does everything for us. They have good shooters. We put a lot of pressure on them and it led to some baskets.”
Added senior point guard Dana Wieller, who scored 11 points: “We have a really strong district where we’re from. We play against pretty much the best. It’s definitely different to play against people you don’t know.
“We couldn’t prepare for it; we didn’t see any tape. But we just did what we do best and it worked to our advantage.”
The decisive win Friday came as a sigh of relief for the Hurricanes.
Liberty has already had two of its first six games postponed due to inclement weather and had to play on consecutivee days before the long drive south to the Cougar Holiday Classic.
“It was about a four-hour drive and we didn’t have our legs,” Wieller said. “It was a little nice … to get our confidence back, especially since we have 13 girls on our team, but we only had nine here today.”
Liberty (Pa.) 15 15 26 14 — 70
West Potomac 7 8 11 16 — 42
Liberty — Repasch 6 0-1 12; Wieller 4 2-2 11; Shumock 4 0-0 10; Reynolds 3 2-2 10; Serratelli 3 3-4 9; Robinson 3 0-0 7; Knipe 3 0-2 6; Strohl 1 1-2 3; Drexel 1 0-0 2. Team totals: 28 8-13 70. West Potomac — Artis 6 1-2 16; McFall 3 5-7 12; Banks 2 1-2 5; Liverpool 1 0-0 3; Kelly 1 0-0 2; Nolton 1 0-0 2; Wood 1 0-0 2. Team totals: 15 7-11 42. Three pointers — Liberty 6 (Reynolds 2, Shumock 2, Robinson, Wieller); West Potomac 5 (Artis 3, Liverpool, McFall).
Potomac Falls 75, Wakefield 37
*Click HERE for video from Potomac Falls and Wakefield only.
*Click HERE for photos from Potomac Falls and Wakefield only.
Heading into the season, Potomac Falls coach Lynn Ewald knew 5-feet-7-inch senior Sara Hibson was 40 rebounds shy of the school’s all-time record, 377.
Heading into the Cassel’s Sports Holiday Classic opener on Friday, Ewald made an admittedly overdue double-take on how progress towards the mark.
He’s certainly glad he did.
With her third rebound of game, which came minutes before halftime, Hibson passed the Panthers’ career rebounding mark, finishing the night with five, bringing her all-time total to 380.
It was one of a handful of highlights for Potomac Falls as it doubled-up Wakefield, 75-37, to advance to a semifinal date with Stone Ridge (Bethesda, Md.).
“I’m pretty proud,” said Hibson, who scored seven points. “I owe a lot to my coaches … they all had to work with me, most of them, for three years now. It’s pretty incredible.
“Our program has been having some trouble, but we’ve really been picking it up and working hard. And this just shows that our hard work is paying off. I’m just so happy to get this.”
Added Ewald: “When I counted them up the day before the game, I was like, ‘I’m glad I counted them up today.'”
Something else Ewald would have regretted overlooking was how many of his players scored on Friday. All 11 of dressed Panthers not only entered the game, but all scored and 10 made a field goal.
Potomac Falls outscored Wakefield by at least seven points in each quarter.
“We had a little rough time this season,” said Hibson. “We talked before the holiday break that we really needed to change our attitude, pick it up and just increase our intensity.
“The girls took it to heart and worked hard. It shows by the score.”
Added Ewald: “We talked about it. We wanted to take this tournament and the three or four practices we have after it as an opportunity to get out of the district in a fun effort.
“We didn’t want to be up 23 at half time and win by 25. Not to pour it on or anything, but to keep the intensity is what the idea was.”
Wakefield 9 6 10 12 — 37
Potomac Falls 17 21 17 20 — 75
Wakefield — Butler 5 8-14 19; Prosise 2 2-3 6; Miriam 0 4-9 4; Doyle 1 1-2 3; Silberman 1 0-0 2; Johnson 0 2-4 2; Moore 0 1-2 1. Team totals: 9 18-34 37. Potomac Falls — Jeffries 3 10-14 16; Stephens 4 4-4 12; Short 3 4-6 12; Berry 3 2-2 8; Howard 3 1-2 7; Hibson 2 3-4 7; Herrera 2 1-2 5; Battle 1 0-0 3; Reid 1 0-0 2; Stanley 1 0-0 2; Hooper 0 1-2 1. Team totals: 23 26-36 75. Three pointers — Wakefield 1 (Butler); Potomac Falls 3 (Short 2, Battle).
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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