It wasn’t inevitable that Osbourn Park would win a state title this season, but even in December it sure looked like it was a highly likely outcome.
The highly likely became reality Saturday night in Richmond, as the Jackets took down defending champion Manchester to win the school’s first VHSL Class 6 state title in girls basketball, 60-48.
“That’s a helluva team, she’s been building her team for years,” said Manchester Coach Rasheed Wright. “They have a lot of talented players over there.”
Even with a roster chock full of talent top to bottom, Osbourn Park Coach Chrissy Kelly tightened her rotation against Manchester, only playing seven players extensive minutes. Those players all delivered. Sophomore Janey Salinas had 16 points off the bench to lead the offense, while do-everything junior guard Key Rainey scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and delivered six assists. Sophomore guard Payton Walters, despite foul trouble, had 11 points in just 14 minutes.
Coach Kelly wasn’t particularly focused on individual offensive numbers after the victory. She was more pleased with her team’s defense, which held the Lancers to 32% shooting from the field.
“We just focused on an identity, and that was defense…we’re not offensively off the charts,” Kelly said. “I told the girls before the game…in the end it has got to be 32 minutes of trusting that identity, trusting ourselves defensively.”
Rainey agreed with that sentiment. “Defense is a big part of my game, especially…defense leads to offense, and I wanted to focus on defense to get our team going.”
Osbourn Park’s defense was good the whole game, at least until the end when the victory was assured. But it was also timely offense that allowed Osbourn Park to pull away in the second half. The game was close at halftime, with Kelly’s team up 24-21. It remained close in the third quarter, with Osbourn Park leading 30-29 midway through.
Junior Jayel West then drained a three-pointer to make it 33-29. After Manchester’s Madison Smith scored, Rainey countered with a driving layup to make it 35-31. Walters canned a jumper at the end of the third quarter to make it 37-31 going into the fourth.
The Lancers pulled to within 45-41 with under four minutes left the game, but Salinas drained a three-pointer with 3:37 left. With 1:58 left, Salinas hit her fourth and final three-pointer to extend the Jackets’ lead to double-digits, effectively icing the game.
“At the end of the game there’s nothing more special than seeing kids that bought into something bigger than themselves,” said Kelly, who last coached a state championship team 19 years ago with Forest Park.
“I told the seniors…you’ve just cemented yourself in the Virginia high school basketball, and the history of Osbourn Park that will never, ever go away….that’s a pretty powerful thing to be able to say.”
While Osbourn Park will be a state contender next year, with lots of young talent on the rise and returnees like West, Rainey, Walters, and Samia Snead (nine points), the Jackets will miss their three-person senior class of Julia Matthews, Taylor Hampton, and Alex Brown.
Brown, who will play for Stony Brook next year, played the whole game Saturday, delivering four points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. As a freshman, she played on the 2021-2022 team that fell to Madison in the state championship. As a senior, she finally got to realize what the program had been building toward for a long while.
“Yeah, definitely very emotional when that buzzer went off,” Brown said. “These are my best friends…not everybody can say they love their team, and to end it like that.”
–Chris Jollay
