Thursday night, the Stone Bridge girls basketball team defeated Potomac Falls 50-33 to close out the regular season, as well as secure a first round home game next week in the district tournament.
Stone Bridge and Potomac Falls faced off two weeks ago on January 25th in a game that found the Bulldogs trailing at half before rallying back for a 53-35 win. This time around, Stone Bridge’s full court press limited the Panthers attack and also helped create fast break opportunities.
“We were active on their ball handlers,” Stone Bridge head coach Emily Thompson said. “Last game we weren’t and there were easy passes into the post. Today we were up on their handlers to make it harder and that forced bad passes or harder passes to catch because there was pressure. I liked our press, the way we got steals and caused some turnovers and made them take quick shots.”
The Bulldogs were led by senior forward Avery Moon and freshman guard Sravya Janapati. Moon posted nine points, six rebounds and two steals, and Janapati tallied 11 points, three rebounds and two blocks. Moon praised the team’s energy and chemistry throughout the game.
“I think we definitely had more intensity this game,” Moon said. “We were getting the ball around, talking on defense, and going through our plays.”
Janapati set the tone early with a big block on the Panthers first possession of the game, and the Bulldogs scored their first two baskets off of turnovers. The teams traded baskets early in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs gained some separation when Janapati sunk a three-pointer, which helped Stone Bridge take an 8-7 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
Potomac Falls was able to keep the game within one score until halfway through the second quarter when the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run led by back-to-back three-pointers from Janapati. Their momentum peaked near the end of the half as sophomore guard Katherine Streaker dished a pass to freshman guard Carly Sweazie, who sunk a three-pointer with five seconds left on the clock.
“Our shots started to drain, our three-pointers started to fall, and we weren’t turning the ball over in the middle of the paint,” Coach Thompson said regarding the surge at the end of the half.
The Bulldogs led 26-13 at the start of the third quarter and didn’t take their foot off the gas. Potomac Falls did its best to try and shorten the Bulldogs lead, with sophomore center Katherine Yashina contributing seven points and five rebounds off the bench. But Stone Bridge maintained its lead by continuing to create turnovers from their press, and patiently finding open looks on offense.
Coach Thompson was happy with the Bulldog’s defensive tempo, but still wants to see the team improve on rebounding and taking care of the ball better on offense.
“We gave up a couple offensive rebounds on free-throws, and we typically do that,” Coach Thompson said. “We want to limit our turnovers on the offensive end – we like to force it into the middle too much and we need to wait for it to come to us.”
–TJ Davis
@TTown316