In an off year when no changes in member schools have been made in the Liberty, the district finds itself in its usual nature with an exciting playing field.
Yorktown begins its first ever season defending a district title after the Patriots won the school’s first last year. DeVaughn Drayton will enjoy a core of soon-to-be four-year varsity players to lead his squad, several of them dual-sport athletes. His point guard Asha Goodwin will be one of the most important players on both ends of the floor. Olivia Stafford will also run the Patriots’ offense at times, as she is one of their most impactful players when on the floor. Taylor Chase, another high-impact player who can mix it up down low, also returns as the Patriots will try to repeat as district champs.
Perhaps challenging Yorktown the most in the Liberty will be the McLean Highlanders, who only lost one senior and met the Patriots for the district title last February. They returned a couple of all-district members in guards Kara Bremser and Shushan Krikorian, two multi-year varsity guards who will be floor generals and have recently committed to play at the next level. One of the most impressive freshmen last year around is the athletic Vilte Kacerauskaite. Senior post Brooke Thomas will “provide both offensive and defensive firepower for us,” said Head Coach Jen Sobota. Junior Ava Stewart, and sophomores Tatum Olson, Alyssa Evans, and Ally Hodder also got experience last year as well and will play “vital roles” in their success this year.
McLean may have surprised some when it made it back to the district championship last year despite a loss to then-streaking Yorktown. This year, we won’t be surprised if they win the district and then some more.
Amanda Baker’s Langley Saxons were a team in the mix all of last season for district and regional titles, but didn’t capture either. They did make it all the way to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2018. “We graduated 6 seniors so we’ll look like a new team to the outside, but we have a lot of players that put in great building years last season and should be ready for action this year,” said Baker, who will be starting her twelfth year as Head Coach.
A lot of eyes will be on sophomore Anya Rahman, who Baker expects to lead Langley on both ends of the floor after a solid campaign as a freshman. Rahman was a key part of the Saxon’s hard-nosed defense. Baker also noted that junior Bri Borcherding had shown “flashes of brilliance” from fall league. Alexis Tappan and Raylin Harrell return as Langley’s two members of the class of 2023. Overall, their biggest task will be filling the hole that now graduated AB Holsinger left, another four-year PG, and it wouldn’t surprise us and others if they started all over with a freshman PG.
Herndon is a squad you can always expect a dogfight from, and this year you can be sure of it from their six seniors. Mike Wills’ team returns all-district performers in seniors Annelise Castillo and Aylin Humpherys, two well-rounded playmakers with multi-year varsity experience. Natalie Branson, Sophia LaRe, Diarra Diagne, and Larae Lansdowne also return.
The Hornets haven’t posed with the district title banner since 2017, but we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw them in the district title game in 2023. They found their way into regionals last February, so they will be hungry to get there again and cut down nets in the process.
Marshall will be young again this year, but talented and very possibly dangerous. After exiting in district tourney play the Statesmen will look to go further as they continue to rebuild. Returning are senior Brennah Lee-Pawlak, plus juniors Anna Musgrove and Ally Nassif, all major contributors ready to help the Statesmen continue to improve and get further into the postseason, where they were not too long ago.
Liz Altmaier is excited about her Washington-Liberty Generals. “Everyone came back better, and we will look to our seniors Laura Nowalk, Kaitlyn Cooper, and Juliana Lomas for on and off-court leadership,” she said.
The Generals sported four freshmen last season, all of whom return to a roster full of “balance and potential.” They will look to go further in postseason play this year after being ousted by Langley in the district tournament last February. “The Liberty District is always good and we know people expect us to prove we can hang with them. This year, we aim to show that maturity and development on the court,” Altmeier added.
Wakefield returns all-district Honorable Mention guards Maya Solis, Gigi Denton, Samantha Stewart, and Lucia Jacobsen. They will look to go further in postseason play this season after also exiting in the first round at the hands of McLean. With a solid core of seniors, it is likely we’ll see them continue to take steps forward this season.
All teams open up their season in non-district play later this week.
–Max Nagle
@MaxWritesHoops