On the Sidelines with Dan Sousa - For the Third Straight Year a 2-Fer State Title Hoops Chance for Loudoun Thanks to Raiders Crazy Comeback

On the Sidelines with Dan Sousa

Richmond (Mar. 12, 2011) - There was a time in Loudoun high school basketball history that you had to wait a decade for a team to make the Final Four in the state and a state championship was the Holy Grail -- always sought after but never found.

Prior to the modern era of VHSL athleteics -- pre-1970 -- the area had the Loudoun County boys advance in 1958 and 1967 and then for almost 20 years no teams made it to the final week until the Loudoun Valley boys in 1988.

The 1990s saw four girls teams advance -- Loudoun Valley girls in 1993 and 1994, Park View in 1995 and Loudoun County in 1999 -- but still no titles. Until the VHSL split AA into two divisions three years ago, the "oughts" were par for the course with two teams moving to the Final Four -- the Park View girls in 2002 and Loudoun County girls in 2006.

With playoff expansion came expanded title opportunities and that coincided with an explosion of talented teams in Loudoun -- the Freedom girls, the Loudoun County girls, and the Potomac Falls boys all with mini-dynasties brewing -- and the result has been the Golden Age of playoff basketball in Loudoun ... four state titles in the last two years and a chance to make it six as the Loudoun County girls and Potomac Falls boys take center stage tonight at 7 and 9 p.m. at VCU's Siegel Center (check with www.vivaloudoun.com for Live! Blogging from the games).

The Freedom High School girls took titles in Division 3 and Division 4 in 2009 and 2010 and Potomac Falls boys became the first boys team to ever win a state basketball title in 2010. The Loudoun County girls won the Division 4 title in 2009 -- proving that year that expanded playoffs had nothing to do with the state titles brought back to Loudoun as area teams took both AA divisions home -- and the Raiders have a chance this year but only after an amazing comeback Wednesday.

We have been having fun this year with the Raiders lone senior Brittany Batts, the school's all-time leading scorer who broke 2,000 points for her career in the state quarterfinals, calling the Raiders bandwagon to the state finals the "Batts-Mobile" ...

Only in the semifinals, Batts could not get her shot to drop and she struggled to a 3-for-20 night shooting, including 1 of 9 from 3-point range. When she fouled out of the game with 2:41 to go, it looked bleak ... let's just say the "Batts-Mobile" looked to be up on blocks.


The Raiders, down by as many as 11 points in the second half, were trailing when Batts left by six points, 38-32, and Turner Ashby had been taking time off the clock with the Raiders scoring only once in the previous four minutes of play. Batts could only sit and watch as Alex Lapple, Haley Knudsen, Erica Linnemann, Casey Cummings and Maggie Phillips would have to find a way to come back.

"I wanted to get out on that court so badly," said Batts.

Raiders first-year coach Derek Fisher simply said after the game: "We have a lot of good players on this team."

And players with championship experience as Lapple, Linnemann and Cummings are all juniors and were freshman in the program for that first title run in 2009 and Phillips, though just a freshman, already earned a state title in the fall with the Raiders volleyball team.

Yes these Loudoun County girls are good in all sports.

Knudsen sparked the rally with a steal with just under two minutes to play and Lapple made a nice assist to Cummings who was fouled and went to shoot two free throws with 1:36 left. Cummings, with a huge double-double in the game of 13 points and 15 rebounds, made both to cut the lead to 38-34.

The Raiders ramped up the defensive pressure with Linnemann getting a steal and feeding Lapple who was crushed to the floor on a layin attempt with 1:11 to go. Lapple made the first but missed the second shot. Phillips, with an athletic fight around a box out, got the offensive rebound and put it back in to cut the lead to just one, 38-37, with 1:09 still left.

It appeared that Turner Ashby would weather the storm when the Raiders had a miss inside and then a turnover on their next two trips down and County had to foul with 41 seconds left to stop the clock. Kelsey Smith made both free throws for a 40-37 TA lead.

Cummings got the ball inside on the County end and was fouled with 31 seconds left. She calmly sank both free throws to make it a 1-point game again, 40-39.

With 22 seconds left, Turner Ashby's Cassidy Burkholder had a chance to extend the Knights lead but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 but the Raiders turned the ball over with 12 seconds left and again Burkholder was sent to the line for a 1-and-1.

Time ... and some players it seemed ... were almost frozen as the free throw missed and Phillips had to battle for the ball and barely got off a pass to Lapple. Surrounded by Knights, Lapple almost lost the ball, but was able to get it out of the traffic up to midcourt to Linnemann.

Even though the Raiders had a player streaking alone on the backside of the break, Linnemann had her focus squarely on the basket as she raced down the court and the lone Knights defender back tried to stay between the Raider and basket.

Playing great defense, the Knight forced Linnemann to spin away from the basket on her layin attempt as the clocked ticked down and ball -- much like it had the weekend before when the Potomac Falls boys won on a last second layin by Lukas Mihailovich -- spun in to give County its first lead since early in the contest.

The Knights stopped the clock with four seconds left and worked a decent shot between midcourt and the 3-point line as time expired but the ball -- while on target -- fell short and both sides showed tears and both really appeared stunned. The County girls had capped an amazing comeback with their top player on the bench and the TA girls had somehow lost their lead in the final seconds.

If there was last second drama in the girls semifinal, the Potomac Falls boys semifinal that tipped off 20 minutes after the Raiders big win featured drama before any seconds elapsed as Christiansburg, a school more known for its wrestling program and making its first every state tournament Final Four appearance, was whistled for a technical foul in warm-ups for holding a group huddle at center court.

The VHSL had been making a point all season to remind schools that it was unsportsmanlike to huddle at the center circle -- over the years when two teams have tried to claim this turf at the same time, chaos has sometimes ensued -- and the Christiansburg coach even reminded his team before they left the locker room.

His words of advice went unheeded and the result was a pair of Potomac Falls free throws to start the contest -- Miahilovich made 1 of 2 -- and the ball out of bounds to the Panthers instead of a jump ball to start with 6-foot-7 junior Greg Graves being fouled on his first touch and then making 1 of 2.

Two points is not a lot but it was an emotional flat tire to the Blue Demons to start -- and with coach Shawn Good forced to sit the entire game after the technical, the couldn't get an needed emotional uplifting from their bench -- and the Panthers under coach Jeff Hawes are not a team known for slowing down when they see an opponent that needs roadside help.

In fact, by the time Christiansburg had things jacked up and ready to go, Potomac Falls was way past the county line and headed to the finals as they sprinted out to a commanding 12-0 lead that was stretched to 21-6 by the end of the first quarter. By halftime the lead was 32-15 and Mihailovich put the Panther feeling in the locker room in perspective: "Basketball is a game of runs but there aren't many teams that are going to out-score us by 17 in one half."

And while Christiansburg did have some good runs in the second half, the end result was a Panther comfortable 59-44 win. 11 different Potomac Falls players saw action with 10 Panthers scoring. For Christiansburg it was an amazing 2 of 28 display from 3-point range against the Panthers zone defense with 12 different players attempting -- and missing! -- 3-point shots which surely sets some sort of high school record. My feeling is that after a team missed 10 or 15 3-point shots ... they may want to stop taking them!

Mihailovich, who owns the Siegel Center after a brilliant run last year, scored 21 points with nine rebounds. Mickey Wagenhoffer, often the overlooked starter by opposing defenses, chipped in 10 points with six rebounds while Graves had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.

The Panthers 35.6 percent shooting from the field was subpar for their season but good enough to put them in tonight's title game against Hidden Valley, a team that fell to Christiansburg three times on the season which makes the defending state champion Panthers the favorites tonight.

For the Raider girls, the opponent will be a familiar foe, Liberty, a team Loudoun County beat in the regional finals.