Once Liberty District foes, the McLean Highlanders and South Lakes Seahawks dueled last night to open up 6D Northern Regional Tournament play. Behind hot first half shooting and composure down the stretch, McLean took the contest 47-40 to advance to the regional semifinals later this week.
Coming off a loss in the Liberty district final to Yorktown, the Highlanders felt like they had more to give.
“I think losing on Friday was a big motivator for everybody. We weren’t ready for our season to be over.” said Head Coach Jen Sobota. “We’ve kind of gone in with the mentality the last few games that we’re the team to beat, and I feel like we played like that today and we shot well, which is always a big thing for us.”
McLean definitely shot well in the first half, knocking down seven three-pointers from four different players. Senior G/F Mia Fitzgerald, the lone senior on the Highlanders, was recently named the Liberty District Defensive Player of the Year and to the first team all-district. She led all scorers tonight with 15. Fellow first team member, junior guard Kara Bremser, added 10.
Here, Shushan Krikorian dishes to Mia Fitzgerald for three pic.twitter.com/zCn5nOzHlB
— Max Nagle (@MaxWritesHoops) February 23, 2022
While the hosts led by 14 at the half, South Lakes found its groove on both sides of the floor in the third to cut the lead to as close as five, outscoring McLean 17-9 in the quarter. Sophomore Alia Terrell helped spark her team’s run, connecting twice from well beyond the arc for the Seahawks. Concorde First Team All-Liberty member, junior forward Jessica Dornak, had another double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.
“They’re South Lakes, you can never underestimate them,” said Sobota. They’ve got great players, great inside play. They’re able to control the tempo of the game, so we just prepared and knew the press was coming and tried to do what we do as opposed to letting them dictate.”
The Highlanders were able to stay poised after the Seahawks run, and opened the fourth on a 5-0 run to stretch the lead back to 11. The Seahawks could get no closer than seven from that point on.
While their season comes to a close, the Seahawks have much to look forward to with a good chunk of their squad returning next year, including the aforementioned Dornak and second team all-district honoree PG, Renee Timbers.
Meanwhile, the Highlanders will travel to Madison later this week. The Warhawks have continued to win all their games in this postseason by large margins, but Sobota says they will take their competitive spirits high into the matchup.
“If you’re a competitor, you want to play the best. And that’s what they are right now. And we’re gonna go out and give it our best shot and see what happens.”
–Max Nagle
@MaxWritesHoops