Park TPS

Park’s 26 leads Potomac School past rival Episcopal

Sara Park and her Potomac School teammates have gotten a bunch of wins already this year, but there’s wins, and then there’s wins. Beating rival Episcopal by double digits Thursday night at home? Now that was a win Park and the Panthers could really sink their teeth into.

The sophomore point guard was sensational, scoring a game-high 26 points to lead her team to a 47-35 victory over the Maroon. There’s no question it was a victory her coach and teammates were looking forward to earning for a while.

“We started preparing for this game like two weeks ago,” Park said after the contest. “Last year we lost to them two or three times at the end and so we really wanted to beat them this time. As far as basketball goes, this is our biggest rival.”

Park said her team came out ready to play, but Episcopal had the upper hand early. The Panthers couldn’t score consistently with 6’3″ Lexi Weger guarding the paint for the Maroon and Episcopal led for most of the way in the first half. While the Panthers didn’t score much they did manage to play solid defense. Junior Tracey Mills shadowed Weger, who is capable from inside and out, limiting her effectiveness on offense.

The Panthers’ Tracey Mills gets a hand out on Episcopal’s Lexi Weger. Mills is the team’s defensive stopper.

“We were really pleased with Tracey Mills kind of taking away Lexi a little bit,” Potomac School coach Mike Hutton said after the game. “Tracey sets the tone defensively for us–she guards the other team’s best player the entire game. That’s why she’s in there the whole time.”

In the first half Park did produce enough on offense to help keep the Panthers within four at the half, 21-17. Junior guard Courtlynne Caskin attacked the rim and got to the free throw line, typical for her. Thanks to Caskin and some touch fouls, Episcopal also started to get in a little foul trouble. That made coach Katrina Reed sit Weger a little more than she would have liked to and also led to the Maroon’s other leading scorer, Maya Goree, eventually fouling out.

But both Episcopal stars were on the floor when Potomac essentially won the game in the third quarter. Down 23-19 the Panthers went on an 11-0 run, fueled by great defense and Park. A three-point play by Park started things off, and then a technical foul on the Maroon gave Potomac School the lead after Park hit two free throws. After another basket the Panthers came up with a steal and Park found freshman Nicole Debayo-Doherty up the court for a lay-up. One more basket and the stunned Maroon found themselves suddenly down seven points. Reed took a timeout.

Episcopal
Episcopal’s LizaBanks Campagna expects the screen as she defends the Panthers’ Mills.

Weger then stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer, but that was as close as Episcopal would get the rest of the way. While the Panthers got to the line consistently the Maroon only made one free throw the entire night. The Maroon pounded the smaller Panthers on the boards, collecting 27 more rebounds total. They simply could not convert enough on the offensive end for that to even matter.

“We’re jet quick on the perimeter and very disruptive,” Hutton said about his team’s defense. “We still didn’t do what we needed to do as far as blocking out and rebounding, but we always feel our pressure defense is always going to result in a strong offense. While we didn’t rebound, we made up for it in forcing turnovers.”

Despite the rebounding deficit Potomac School’s Camilla Rodlauer, the squad’s lone senior, did have some very strong defensive boards down the stretch. Caskin finished with 12 points on the night. For Episcopal (2-2, 9-7) Weger led the way with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Sophie Singletary also contributed seven points and 10 rebounds off the bench, but it was not a night Reed and the Maroon will look back on fondly.

three
Episcopal’s Brooks Buyck looks to attack, but finds three determined Panthers in her way.

The Panthers (4-1, 13-3) will, however. Last month when we saw Hutton’s team at a tournament at Falls Church, he mentioned this game as a big one he was eagerly anticipating. The result certainly turned out to be worth the wait, and Hutton was happy to praise his floor general Park’s performance especially.

“Just a great floor game from Sara tonight. She knew when to dish, she knew when to attack and her shot is very fluid right now. She’s a match-up challenge for anybody. This was the marquee win we really wanted.”

–Chris Jollay

all stats are unofficial

EPISCOPAL FG FT TP RB AST
CAMPAGNA 1-3 0-0 2 9 3
GOREE 3-11 0-1 6 10 1
SHEPHERD 1-6 0-0 3 0 1
BUYCK 3-12 0-1 6 2 3
WEGER 5-12 0-0 11 10 0
Singletary 3-12 1-3 7 10 0
Gray 0-4 0-1 0 3 0
Abdul-Jalaal 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Gerow 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Phillips 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
TOTALS 16-61 1-6 35 48 8
Threes:
POTOMAC SCHOOL FG FT TP RB AST
DEBAYO-DOHERTY 2-9 0-1 4 5 1
PARK 8-15 8-11 26 2 1
MILLS 1-10 0-0 2 1 1
CASKIN 2-9 8-12 12 4 2
RODLAUER 1-2 1-5 3 6 2
Moran 0-2 0-0 0 2 0
Martin 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
TOTALS 14-47 17-29 47 21 7
Threes: