Girls Basketball: Batts Scores 31 to Lead Loudoun County Over Potomac Falls

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun Editor

Leesburg (Dec. 23, 2010) - Loudoun County High School senior Brittany Batts scores a game-high 31 points and keyed a 10-0 third quarter run that broke open a 25-25 tie as the Raiders rolled to a 58-43 girls basketball win over Potomac Falls Wednesday night in Leesburg.

The win moved the Raiders (3-1, 5-2) and Panthers (3-1, 4-5) into a tie in the loss column in the Dulles District standings with Freedom (4-1, 6-2), which fell Wednesday in an upset to Briar Woods, 33-31.

First-year Raider coach Derek Fisher said he was enjoying working with "a great group of kids" and that both he and the players were still in the learning process with each other.

"We hope to be a lot better team at the end of the season than we are now," said Fisher.

The smaller Loudoun County team out-rebounded Potomac Falls in the contest and the Raiders patented fullcourt pressure forced turnovers and led to easy baskets.

Batts hit two of her four 3-pointers during the 10-0 run in the third quarter that came after Potomac Falls had tied the game on senior Kayla Guttredge's 3-pointer. Ewald described Batts' shooting performance as "scorching the earth" as she drilled several 3-pointers several steps behind the arc.

"She makes everybody else on the team better," said Fisher.

Raider sophomore Haley Knudsen scored her only four points of the game during the key third quarter stretch. County 6-foot junior Casey Cummings led the Raiders dominance inside.

"Normally we are a good rebounding team but they crashed hard and their speed hurt us," said Potomac Falls coach Lynn Ewald.

Cummings and junior Alex Lapple each finished with six points while freshman Maggie Phillips added a spark off the bench with seven.

Guttredge finished with a team high 12 points, all from beyond the arc. Freshman Teal Reynolds added 11 for the Panthers.

Loudoun County 58, Potomac Falls 43
Potomac Falls (3-1, 4-5)
Guttridge 4 0-0 12, Reynolds 5 1-1 11, Mook 3 1-4 7, Jefferies 1 2-2 4, Perez 2 0-0 5, Murphy 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 4-7 43.
Loudoun County (3-1, 5-2)
Lapple 2 1-2 6, Knudsen 2 0-0 4, Linnemann 1 2-3 4, Batts 10 7-8 31, Cummings 3 0-0 6, Phillips 2 3-6 7. Totals 20 13-19 58.
3-Pointers: PF 5 (Guttridge 4, Perez 1), LC 5 (Batts 4, Lapple 1).
End 1st: LC 13, PF 10
Half: LC 25, PF 22
End 3rd: LC 42, PF 31