Girls Basketball: Woodgrove Goes Wire-to-Wire for Dulles District Title

By Dan "Euro Step" Sousa
Viva Loudoun Editor
(Feb. 11, 2013) - For the second straight year the Woodgrove High School girls basketball team enters the postseason as the Dulles District's top seed. While in 2012 it was the Wolverines snatching a share of the regular season title and then taking the top seed with two wins over rival Loudoun County in less than 48 hours, this time around it was Woodgrove from wire-to-wire, though they needed a bit of comeback in Friday's 38-35 win at Loudoun County to avoid another playoff.

Woodgrove (18-0 district, 19-3 overall) trailed Loudoun County (16-2, 19-3) by 13 points at the half, 27-14, before rallying behind the play of seniors Stephanie Purnell and Sarah Hardison for the hard-fought win.

While Purnell and Hardison were combining for 21 of their 30 points in the second half, the suffocating Wolverine defense was limiting the Raiders to just two field goals and eight total points in the last two quarters.


The two teams combined 40 turnovers ... in the first half and despite making 23 of those miscues, Loudoun County found itself up by double digits at the break thanks to a barrage of 3-point shooting.

With the score sitting at a Peach Basket-esque 11-10 County with just about two minutes left in the first half, Raider sophomore Chloe Knox knocked down two treys in 30 seconds. Maggie Phillips, who leads County with a 14 point average per game but who was held without a field goal Friday, hit one of her seven free throws on the game to make it 18-12.

With 1:23 left in the half, the Raiders luck continued as junior Katerina Kushner banked home a 3-pointer from a near-impossible baseline angle. Phillips drained four more free throws in a 10-second span to make it 25-12 with 41 seconds left.

After Woodgrove hit for two free throws in four attempts, County went to the locker room on a rush as Knox beat the buzzer with a deep 2-point shot, making it 27-14.

Woodgrove make two key changes in the second half.

On defense, the Wolverines -- who pushed the pace in the first half with a fullcourt pressure that had resulted in many of the Raider turnovers but also led to some easy County looks and allowed Phillips and company to get to the foul line -- switched a half court defense and County's offense turned a bit stagnant, settling for outside jumpers. And after a hot first half shooting from deep, County went just 1 of 7 from beyond the arc in the second half.

On offense, the Wolverines went early and often in the second half to Purnell who used her size and athleticism to post up the Raider defense and she scored on two nice moves to open the half and start the comeback.

County didn't score in the second half until 2:19 remained in the third quarter and by that time Woodgrove had shaved the led down to four points.

Hardison's coast-to-coast drive with a minute left in the third made it 31-28 County. She tried to even it up a the buzzer but unlike her buzzer beater from way deep to end the first quarter, this attempt missed so County still nursed a lead starting the final quarter.

Brook Bassinger made a nice feed to Hardison's backdoor cut to slice the Raider lead to 33-32 with 4:55 left. Purnell's post-up move at 4:19 put Woodgrove ahead for the first time since the second quarter.

Purnell struck again at 2:35 left to pad the lead. Woodgrove's foul shooting -- just 15 of 29 --- kept the game close as Woodgrove missed four foul shots in the final 43 seconds, including a pair of misses with 9.5 seconds left.

Those last misses gave County a shot at overtime and the Raiders got the ball into the front court and fired off a 3-pointer that missed at the buzzer.

Woodgrove 38, Loudoun County 35
WG  8   6  14  10 - 38
LC   5  22    4   4 - 35

WG FG (3 PTS) FT = Total
Bri.Basinger 0-2 (0-0) 0-3 = 0
Bro.Basinger 0-6 (0-2) 3-6 = 3
Hardison 4-10 (1-3) 4-4 = 13
Buxton 0-3 (0-2) 0-0 = 0
Purnell 6-15 (0-0) 5-10 = 17
Lynch 0-3 (0-0) 3-4 = 3
Tilly 1-2 (0-0) 0-2 = 2
Lorinchak 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 = 0
Totals 11-41 (1-7) 15-29 = 38

LC FG (3PTS) FT = Total
Gillis 0-3 (0-1) 0-1 = 0
Szoka 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 = 0
Tibbits 1-2 (1-1) 2-4 = 5
Knox 3-10 (2-7) 0-0 = 8
Phillips 0-5 (0-0) 7-10 = 7
Brennaman 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 = 0
Bowers 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 = 0
Gianelos 2-6 (0-0) 2-3 = 6
Kushner 3-5 (3-4) 0-0 = 9
Totals 9-33 (6-15) 11-18 = 35

Rebounds
WG 33 (Purnell 7, Hardison 6, Bro.Basinger 5, Tilly 4, Buxton 3, BriBasinger 2, Lorinchak 2, Lynch 1, TEAM 3)
LC 33 (Phillips 7, Tibbits 6, Knox 5, Szoka 4, Gianelos 4, Gillis 2, Kushner 1, TEAM 4)

Turnovers
WG   7  10   4   1 - 22
LC   11  12   3   2 - 28



Dulles District Girls Basketball Tournament
Mon. Feb. 11 - Quarterfinals
No. 8 Park View at No. 1 Woodgrove, 7 p.m.
No. 5 Heritage at No. 4 Potomac Falls, 6 p.m.
No. 6 Loudoun Valley at No. 3 Tuscarora, 7 p.m.
No. 7 Dominion at No. 2 Loudoun County, 6 p.m.

Wed. Feb. 13 - Semifinals at high seed

Fri. Feb . 15 - Finals at Tuscarora