The top ten or so girls teams in Northern Virginia are fairly-well solidified, although there are teams with past histories, especially teams like Madison and Oakton, that could crash the party in a hurry. Beyond the top ten, that’s when the depth of Northern Virginia really shows itself. There are dozens of solid-to-good teams that have been beating each other regularly so far this season.
While there were only two girls bracket-style tournaments locally, that area depth is what made both fascinating. Probably five or six teams could have won Bolt Ball at Lightridge, while maybe up to seven of the eight teams realistically could have won the Shark Tank Classic at Colgan.
Shark Tank Classic
We waited until the final day to attend, and we weren’t disappointed. #18 West Potomac had made it to the championship game, with talented sophomore guard Olivia Jones scoring 24 points in two double-digit victories over Flint Hill and Stone Bridge, two very solid teams. They were a decided favorite in the title game against Westfield, which had utilized defense to defeat Colonial Forge and host Colgan. We wondered if Westfield’s strong defensive pedigree would hold against Jones and the offensive firepower of the Wolverines.
Boy, did that defense hold. By our count, Westfield senior forward Emma O’Connor had seven first half blocks as she continuously rejected Wolverines driving the paint. That propelled the Bulldogs to a shocking 25-4 lead midway through the second quarter. West Potomac adjusted and made it a game, but timely makes by a number of Bulldogs eventually put the game on ice as Westfield won, 53-48.
Westfield has potential. With the defense anchored by O’Connor, yet another area Christopher Newport signee, the Bulldogs can certainly limit other teams from scoring inside. That’s a huge advantage. Samantha Etzler is a proven commodity who averaged double-digit scoring in the tournament, and freshman Ava Andersen even led the Bulldogs in scoring in the West Potomac game. if that becomes a regular occurrence, Westfield can certainly make a little noise in the brutal Concorde District.
Bolt Ball
If Lightridge had made the Championship Game of their Bolt Ball Tourney we would have covered it. That’s because we haven’t covered the Lightning yet, and they are a good young team we’d like to see. When Battlefield defeated Lightridge in the semis we didn’t cover the final, since we had already covered the young and talented Bobcats already this year.
We’ll cover Lightridge at some point, however, and also Freedom-South Riding, who ended up winning the tournament over Battlefield. Congrats to the Eagles, who defeated Battlefield by ten points to claim Bolt Ball.
Freedom has been inconsistent this season, winning games against quality opponents like Riverside and Patriot, but also losing games against other quality opponents, like Potomac Falls, and actually Lightridge. When the Eagles play their pace they’re tough and they play good defense, as Thomas Jefferson (19 points) found out in the semis.
It was a very nice three wins for Freedom, which had to outlast a very solid Clarke County team in overtime on the first day of the tournament to even get in the winners’ side of the bracket. Senior Avery Strohecker was named Tourney MVP.
Also of note at Bolt Ball, Lewis got its first win of the season, over Manassas Park. Congrats to Coach Samantha Partonen, who we have a high regard for, and the Lancers!
Other Action
Locally there was also non-bracket pre-arranged games at Oakton, hosted by the Cougars. Most of the games were not competitive, but there was some action of note. Langley sustained its first loss of the year to an always-tough Holy Child (MD) team. Then Robinson went right out and smashed that Holy Child team, interesting since earlier in the year Langley beat Robinson. Ah, results can be fun.
Woodgrove senior Angelina Nice scored a school single game record 40 points in a blowout win, despite only playing like half the game. There aren’t many players that can stop Nice at full extension when she attacks the rim–congrats to her.
There was lots of interesting other action, some out-of-town. Hayfield won two games up at Governor’s Challenge, while Edison won two-of-three at a very competitive tourney down at Highland Springs. The National District has improved top-to-bottom, and should be again fun this year. Though Hayfield and Edison appear the class of the district, the rest of the district is capable of upsets over those two.
Paul VI won two big games over Georgetown Visitation and Virginia Academy. That was huge, as was the return of Coach Scott Allen to the team. Allen had recently lost his mother, and was away from the team for a few weeks. We offer Scott our prayers and best wishes on his loss.
With the transfer of Sadie Shores back to Woodgrove, the Panthers are relying on a lot of youth and inexperience in the backcourt. However, their formidable (and tall) frontcourt led by Southern Cal signee Laura Williams remains exceptional–as does the Panthers’ defense. PVI will be sorely tested to keep their remarkable string of VISAA titles going this year, but if they can keep quality opponents like Visitation and VAA in the fourties, like they did last week, they can win.
Don’t bet against them, nor Madison by the way, as the games get more important in February and March.
–Chris Jollay