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The Woodbridge ladies begin the celebration after winning the school's first state title in girls basketball.

Woodbridge girls land state title with 64-43 win over Cosby

There were lots of good individual offensive performances in Woodbridge’s Class 6 state title win at Siegel Center Wednesday night. It was team defense, however, that won the day for the Vikings–at the beginning of the game and at the end.

In the first minute of the game Woodbridge forced three quick Cosby turnovers en route to an 8-0 lead. Then, after a Cosby 11-2 run closed the Vikings’ lead to 44-42 at the end of the third quarter, Woodbridge held Cosby to a single point the rest of the game. The Vikings, meanwhile, scored 20 fourth quarter points to blow open a close contest and defeat the defending state champion Titans, 64-43.

“We’re over the moon right now,” Woodbridge coach Tamika Dudley said after the game.

The Vikings (29-1), our #1-ranked team in Northern Virginia since a December win over Paul VI, played a great game against a tenacious and battle-tested opponent. Senior Camryn Platt-Morris led the way with 18 points. She was eight of nine from the field and dynamic in the open court. Junior Aaliyah Pitts had 16 points, just enough to register her 1,000th career point–as if the Vikings needed another reason to celebrate.

Senior Tae’lor Willard (shown below) added 10 points, while forwards Vanessa Laumbach and Adaija Bender did the heavy lifting inside. The pair combined for 21 rebounds as the Vikings out-rebounded the smaller Titans 41-29 on the evening. Bender also had five blocks, playing an instrumental role in the Vikings strategy to protect the paint.

“What I love about this team is you never know who is going to step up when,” Dudley said.

Dudley and her staff did a great job coming up with a defensive strategy to slow down Cosby (23-5). The Vikings played man, sagging a big down in the lane and off of Cosby forward Alexis Warren, not a major threat to score from outside. That left Laumbach and Bender in the lane to protect the paint, and it helped Woodbridge to hold Cosby to a paltry 25% field goal percentage on the night.

It was the first state title in Woodbridge girls basketball history. It meant a lot to a ton of people, but perhaps most of all to Dudley, who also graduated from and played basketball at the school.

–Chris Jollay

WOODBRIDGE FG FT TP REB AST
WILLARD 4-6 2-2 10 5 6
PITTS 3-15 9-11 16 5 2
BENDER 3-5 2-2 8 11 1
LAUMBACH 3-3 0-0 7 10 3
PLATT-MORRIS 8-9 2-2 18 6 0
Brooks 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Mohamed 1-2 0-0 2 1 0
Cross 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
Dinwiddie 1-5 0-0 3 2 0
Melendez 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Williams 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
TOTALS 23-47 15-17 64 41 12
Threes: Laumbach 1-1, Pitts 1-3, Dinwiddie 1-4, Willard 0-1, Mohamed 0-1
COSBY FG FT TP REB AST
WILLIAMS 5-18 0-0 13 2 1
TILLET 1-3 0-0 2 2 1
COVINGTON 7-22 3-4 17 12 1
WARREN 1-4 1-2 3 6 0
GALLAGHER 2-15 3-4 8 5 3
Hairfield 0-1 0-0 0 2 0
TOTALS 16-63 7-10 43 29 6
Threes: Williams 3-8, Gallagher 1-6, Tillet 0-1, Covington 0-1