Connolly
The Cougars' Delaney Connolly (19 points) defends the Chargers' Mary Clougherty (27 points). Neither could stop the other, nor could anyone else slow down those two.

Oakton girls reclaim top spot in NOVA’s toughest conference

If you crave normalcy for whatever reason–out of sorts from Donald Trump, celebrity deaths, bobcats escaping the zoo, Beyonce having twins, whatever–a little bit of that normalcy was restored Friday night in Oakton.

The Cougar girls basketball team is again in full control of the old Concorde.

In a game with an obvious playoff-type feel, Oakton (7-2, 19-2) got 19 points from Delaney Connolly and 16 from Kailyn Fee to defeat Chantilly 53-51 and break a tie with the Chargers atop cut-throat 6A Conference 5 (the Concorde). There’s one more regular season game remaining, but the victory likely handed Oakton the #1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

It was anything but easy. The Chargers (6-3, 15-4) got a dominating performance from Lehigh-bound forward Mary Clougherty (27 points) and kept things close the whole way. Neither team could open up more than a two-possession lead at any point, and the Chargers had a chance to tie or win the game with 11 seconds left. They couldn’t get a clean look, though, nor could they get the ball in the hands of Clougherty, and Oakton had itself a key victory.

Clougherty was amazing, but the bottom line was she didn’t get enough help from her teammates, at least offensively. The other Chargers combined to shoot 23% from the field. Claire Roberts’ contributions were limited by foul trouble and second-leading scorer Grace Rauch wasn’t effective, managing only four points against the aggressive Oakton defense.

Chantilly played tough defense as well most of the way, limiting the Cougars’ three senior stars of Connolly, Fee and Maddie Royle maybe as much as humanly possible. Fee had a huge impact on the game with her defense, rebounding and passing, but at least the Chargers were able to limit the dynamic guard to 5-17 shooting. Royle didn’t have a bad game with 10 points and five rebounds, but forced some shots and picked up a technical foul late that swung momentum to Chantilly.

The Chargers' Hannah Reeves defends Oakton's Kailyn Fee in the second half Friday night.
The Chargers’ Hannah Reeves defends Oakton’s Kailyn Fee in the second half Friday night.

But the great thing about having three fantastic players like Oakton coach Fred Priester does is that it’s so difficult to stop all three. Friday night Connolly proved the difference, hitting clutch free throws down the stretch–and all six of her attempts overall–and punishing the Chargers inside and out. When asked if she felt comfortable on the line late, Connolly said it was all just a matter of working hard in practice showing through.

“We go through our free throws a lot and make it routine in practice,” she said. “One of my coaches when I was really young said ‘mind can believe, body can achieve’ and I think about that a lot.”

Connolly and the other Oakton bodies are back to achieving a lot. The Chargers, meanwhile, can take solace that they might very well see the Cougars ahead down in the road, whether it’s at the conference tourney, regionals, or even states. Oakton is very much aware of that.

“That was a really hard-fought, tough game,” Connolly said. “Chantilly played really well but we’ve been practicing really hard and focusing on the little details, and we wanted to come out and show everybody all we’ve been working on.”

Their hard work has paid off.

–Chris Jollay

all statistics are unofficial

OAKTON FG FT TP RB AST
KENEFICK 1-1 1-2 4 7 2
PLATER 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
FEE 5-17 6-10 16 7 5
ROYLE 4-11 2-2 10 5 0
CONNOLLY 6-13 6-6 19 6 0
Meshanko 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Vietmeyer 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Mori 2-2 0-0 4 2 0
TOTALS 18-45 15-20 53 29 7
Threes: Kenefick 1-1, Connolly 1-2, Plater 0-1, Royle 0-4, Fee 0-7
CHANTILLY FG FT TP RB AST
REEVES 3-10 0-3 7 9 4
ROBERTS 3-10 0-0 8 2 1
RAUCH 2-7 0-0 4 4 1
BALLAM 0-9 1-2 1 7 3
CLOUGHERTY 8-21 7-7 27 8 0
Francis 1-2 0-0 2 2 0
Hajinur 0-3 0-0 0 1 0
Feighery 1-2 0-0 2 1 0
TOTALS 18-64 8-12 51 34 9
Threes: Clougherty 4-7, Roberts 2-5, Reeves 1-4, Rauch 0-2, Ballam 0-2, Francis 0-1