Dulles District Basketball: "Big Four" Set for Saturday Showdown as Broad Run and Potomac Falls Boys Advance to Finals, Join LC and Freedom Girls

South Riding (Feb. 19, 2010) - It had to be.

The "big four" this season of Dulles District basektball -- Broad Run and Potomac Falls boys and Freedom and Loudoun County girls -- will meet Saturday night at Freedom High School with tournament titles on the line with the girls tipping off at 6 p.m. followed by the boys around 8 p.m.

It had to be as all four teams -- a combined 69-11 on the season with five of those losses coming against each other and five of the six others coming against AAA size or private schools -- have been ranked in the top five in the state all year by the Associated Press and they have been the class of the district.

For the girls it will be a fourth meeting on the year after Freedom took Loudoun County on Monday in a special playoff to determine the tournament's top seed. The boys are meeting for just a third time, with the series split, after a playoff was avoided when Broad Run was upset by Park View on the eve of the big snowstorms.

The dream match-ups were cemented Friday as regular season champion Potomac Falls (17-2) beat Briar Woods (9-10), 56-50, in a semifinal game that wasn't as close as the final score indicates as the Falcons, showing tremendous heart, poured in 27 points in the quarter quarter with the PF starters sitting most of the time on the bench.

The second semifinal was actually much closer even though the final score shows Broad Run on top, 68-46, over darkhorse Freedom which had upset Park View in the quarterfinals. It appears that loss knocked the Patriots out of the Region II Division 3 playoffs and the loss by BW Friday knocked them out of the Region II Division 4 playoffs. While the seedings won't be finalized until Sunday, it is likely that only Broad Run and Potomac Falls will advance from the Dulles.

On the girls side Thursday, it really wasn't close as Freedom blew out Park View, 76-38, and Loudoun County ran past Potomac Falls, 63-38.

In AAA Liberty District action Friday night, Stone Bridge fell to young but talented South Lakes, 55-40. The Bulldogs will advance to the next week's Northern Region tournament.

Dulles District Boys Semifinal: Potomac Falls 56, Briar Woods 50
Regular-season champion Potomac Falls High School took the court for the first time in 15 days but PF didn't show any rust, especially on the defensive end as Briar Woods and high-scoring sophomore Myles Tate were held to just two points in the first quarter.

Leading 9-2 heading into the second quarter, PF stretched the lead to 28-13 at the half and in the second half the advantage approached the 25+ range.

Junior Lukas Mihailovich had just four points in the first half for PF but he finished with a game-high 18 points and was one of 11 players to score for the Panthers as coach Jeff Hawes emptied his bench out. Junior Brendon Chesson carried the offensive load in the first half for PF, scoring nine of his 11. Juniors Zack Curran and Mickey Wagenhoffer each finished with seven points.

PF's height advantage translated into a lot of second -- and third -- opportunities for the Panthers in the paint and a trapping halfcourt defense forced BW into turnovers that resulted in transition baskets for PF.

Tate was held to one field goal in the first half but rallied to finish with 17, eight of that coming in the final quarter. Sophomore Correy Faciane scored nine for BW and senior Phillip Hardy showed a physical style of play off the bench and scored eight points.

Potomac Falls 56, Briar Woods 50
Briar Woods 2 11 10 27 - 50
Potomac Falls 13 15 14 14 - 56
Briar Woods: Tate 4 6-6 17, Faciane 3 0-0 9, Hardy 3 2-2 8, Calder 2 0-0 5, Nervegna 2 1-1 5, Burcak 1 0-0 3, Roush 1 0-2 2, Kaume 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 10-13 50.
Potomac Falls: Mihailovich 8 2-2 18, Chesson 2 6-6 11, Curran 3 0-0 7, Wagonhoffer 3 1-2 7, Graves 1 1-2 3, Hoover 1 1-2 3, Simoneau 1 0-0 2, Owens 1 0-1 2, Sweger 0 1-3 1, Hobby 0 1-2 1, Byrd 0 1-2 1. Totals 20 14-22 56.
3-Pointers: BW 8 (Tate 3, Faciane 3, Calder 1, Burcak 1), PF 2 (Chesson 1, Curran 1).

Dulles District Boys Semifinal: Broad Run 68, Freedom 46
Broad Run High School senior Kevin McGaughey, the district's Division 4 Player of the Year, reached a milestone in the fourth quarter of this win as he broke the 1,000-point career mark on the way to a game-high 20 points.

McGaughey knocked down two 3-pointers early and scored 10 in the first quarter as BR took a 17-10 lead.

Freedom, showing the poise and shooting ability that allowed them to upset the Patriots Wednesday, hung around, trailing anywhere from seven to 12 points until very late in the game when BR put the contest away on the line, making 9 of 12 foul shots.

BR junior Taylor Johnson had a strong second quarter, scoring eight of his 18 points and senior Ali Janjua scored nine points before fouling out with 5:30 left in the game and senior Ahmad Zafar finished with eight points.

Senior Brian Orr, who had a big game for Freedom in the PV win, got in early foul trouble and had just one field goal in the game before fouling out with 5:05 left in the contest.

Sophomore Sean O'Rourke (13 points), junior Taylor Barton (11 points), and junior Mark Muhlenberg (10 points) picked up the scoring slack for the Eagles, with all the players knocking down 3-pointers. Freshman Darren Hawkins scored seven and with four starters returning in 2010-11 Freedom should be an exciting team to watch under coach Derek Gaunt who took over the program this season.

Broad Run 68, Freedom 46
Freedom 10 15 12 9 - 46
Broad Run 17 18 12 21 - 68
Freedom: O'Rourke 6 0-0 13, Barton 3 4-6 11, Muhlenberg 4 1-2 10, Hawkins 3 1-4 7, Orr 1 3-4 5. Totals 17 9-16 46
Broad Run: McGaughey 6 6-9 20, TJohnson 6 5-8 18, Janjua 4 1-1 9, Zafar 3 2-2 8, DJohnson 1 2-4 4, Rawson 2 0-0 4, Maier 1 1-2 3, Salgado 1 0-0 2. 24 17-26 68.
3-Pointers Free 3 (O'Rourke 1, Barton 1, Muhlenberg 1), BR 3 (McGaughey 2, TJohnson 1)

Dulles District Girls Semifinal: Freedom 76, Park View 38
Freedom senior Kelsey Buchanan showed why the University of Delaware is welcoming her next year as she had a triple double in this win ... almost by the half as she finished the first two quarters with 12 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. Buchanan finished with a monster game: 20 points, 19 rebounds and 11 blocks.

Buchanan wasn't the only player having a big night as senior Brittani Poindexter came off the bench to set a school record with five 3-pointers, including four in the first half. She finished with 15 points. Also for Freedom, junior Dionna Scott scored 13 points with nine rebounds and senior Jessica Escorza, who will play at Wofford next year, scored 11 points with five assists.

Senior Jasmine Merritt, despite foul problems, scored eight points with 11 rebounds and junior Kim Koditek had six assists off the bench. Freedom led 45-15 at the half.

Park View freshman Chloe Owens, the district's Division 3 Player of the Year while Buchanan was the Division 4 Player of the Year, scored 12 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter.

Complete boxscore

Dulles District Girls Semifinal: Loudoun County 63, Potomac Falls 38
Potomac Falls, with Raven Short in foul trouble and held to just two points in the first half, was close after the first quarter, trailing 11-10, but LC opened a 29-14 at halftime with seniors Alissa Kain and Kendra Holmes combining for 17 first half points.

County continued to pull away, leading by 17 after three quarters, and then outscored the Panthers 16-8 in the final frame to earn the 25-point win.

Holmes and Kain shared team-high scoring honors with 16 points apiece. Holmes was also big on the boards as she pulled down 15 rebounds. Kain contributed six rebounds to go along with five steals.

Junior Brittany Batts and Sophomore Erica Linnemann finished the night with 11 points each.

Sophomores Casey Cummings and Jenna Strange also played key roles as they combined for seven points, 10 rebounds, and five blocked shots.

For Potomac Falls, Symone Berry scored a game high 17 points with nine of those coming in the third quarter.

Loudoun County 63, Potomac Falls 38
P (12-6, 7-3) — Berry 17, Short 9, Perez 4, Baltimore 2, Battle 2, Jefferies 2, Stanley 2. Totals 15 5-8 38.
L (17-3, 8-1) — Holmes 16, A. Kain 16, Batts 11, Linnemann 11, Cummings 4, Strange 3, Lapple 2. Totals 23 15-19 63.
Halftime: Loudoun County, 29-14.
Three-point goals: P 3 (Berry, Short 2); L 2 (Batts, Linnemann).
Rebounds: L 40 (Holmes 15, A. Kain 6, Batts 4, Linnemann 4, Cummings 3, Strange 7, Lapple).
Assists: L 9 (Holmes 2, A. Kain, Batts 3, Linnemann 2, Strange).

Liberty District Girls Semifinal: South Lakes 55, Stone Bridge 40
South Lakes 13-12-15-15-55
Stone Bridge: 6-13-14-7-40
South Lakes: Tremba 16, Beard Fails 12, Sutton 10, Schultz 7, Kendall 6, Wardlow 4, Three pointers: Tremba 4, Sutton 2 foul line: 11 of 16
Stone Bridge:  Tiernan 17, Whitaker 10, Sleece 3, N Prince 3, C Prince 2, Dzurilla 2, Stancik 2, Guzek 1 Three pointers: Sleece 1, N. Prince 1 Foul line: 4 of 12