Girls Basketball: Tuscarora Secures Win Against Valley after Celebrating their First Senior Night

By Anna Cho
Tuscarora High School Student Journalist
Leesburg (Feb. 13, 2012) - The Tuscarora High School girls basketball team finished the regular season Friday with a 41-34 victory against Loudoun Valley on Senior Night.

After celebrating their win and the second-year program's first ever Senior Night, seniors Darrian Pickett and Amirah Al-Bayyinah reflected on their past two seasons at Tuscarora.

“It has been extremely hard with everything from deciding where I am going to school, new teammates coming in, and getting my game together. But overall it has helped me grow as a player and I couldn’t have done that without the coaches and my teammates,” said Pickett. “This is my family.”

The word family has a huge impact on the team.

“Darrian and Amirah are our big sisters,” said junior teammate Takiea Edmonds. “They are always taking care of us, and keeping us motivated to play our games.”

Others are finding it difficult to saying goodbye to the seniors at the end of the season.

“I cannot imagine the team without our seniors,” said junior Chanelle Wideman, “but they are leaving us with such a strong impact and will always remain our big sisters.”


Huskies head coach Michael Newkirk reflected on the impact the seniors have made on the new program: “They have grown tremendously. Darrian is a young lady who now really understands her position as a point guard and Amirah is always challenging herself to be a better player."

Continued Newkirk: “Basketball is just a small piece of our lives. I want them to remember to always have the will to win, the will to do good, and the will to do their best because as long as they take that approach they will be successful in everything they do.”

Al-Bayyinah found the words to describe her time on the team: “It was a lot of hard work and dedication, but it was fun. I met a lot of new friends, parents, and there was just a great community around me. I couldn’t ask for a better place to be.”

Ending with an overall 15-7 regular season record, a vast improvement over last year's 4-19 campaign, the No. 4 seed Huskies have earned a Dulles District tournament quarterfinal home date as they host No. 5 seed Dominion Monday at 7 p.m. in Leesburg.