Girls Basketball: Salem vs. Loudoun County D4 State Semifinal Preview

Winning as a team!

(March 4, 2013) - The Loudoun County High School girls basketball team is one win away from a third trip to the state finals in five years! Here is their semifinal preview:

The Skinny: VHSL Girls Basketball Division 4 Semifinals
Loudoun County vs. Salem
Date: Wed. March 6, 2013
Location: VCU's Siegel Center in Richmond
Tip Off Time: 11 a.m.

Loudoun County High School
Location: Leesburg
Nickname: Raiders
Colors: Navy Blue, Gold
District: Dulles
Region: II
Enrollment (March 2012): 1,357
Head Coach: Derek Fisher

Record: 24-5
Past Semifinals: 4
Past State Championships: 1

Kids R All Right: The Raiders have NO seniors on their roster and just two juniors! County normally starts a freshman at point guard -- 5-6 Alyssa Paige -- along with three sophomores in 5-7 Gabrielle Gillis, 5-7 Taylor Tibbits and 6-0 Chloe Knox. 

Maggie in March: The Raiders only starting upperclassman has enough big-game experience for an entire team as 6-0 Maggie Phillips helped the basketball team to the state finals her freshman year and has helped the volleyball team to three straight state finals, winning two of them including in November. She will play volleyball in college at the U.S. Naval Academy. She averages 14.4 points per game on the season and is averaging nearly 15 a game in the playoffs even though teams are focusing on stopping her.

No Stage Fright: Young Raiders already played on a big stage, beating Grafton by five points at ODU on Saturday and freshman Elisabeth Gianelos came off the bench to score a season-high 15 points.

Fort-unes of Knox: Knox can be a key scoring component for Raiders with 16 points on the road at Sherando when the team clinches States and 12 against Grafton on Saturday. Paige has been averaging around seven points a game and Tibbits about five.

Fisher the Man: Fisher has been selected as one of the assistant coaches for the East team at the upcoming McDonald's All American Game.

Trivia Big Time: Loudoun County is Loudoun's oldest high school having opened in 1954 when the county consolidated all high school students in one central location in Leesburg from smaller schools around the county.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Salem girls have been on top of their game!

Salem High School 

Location: Salem
Nickname: Spartans
Colors: Maroon, Silver
District: River Ridge
Region: IV
Enrollment (March 2012): 1,246
Head Coach: DeWayne Harrell
Record: 24-3
Past Semifinals: 3
Past State Championships: 0

More than Oh-Tay: Tay Taylor is more than OK! The 5-7 senior recruit for Wake Forest scored 16 points to lead Spartans to 46-34 win over Lord Botetourt in state quarterfinals.

Lotta Lefties: Taylor is one of three left-handers on the Salem squad.

Price was Right: 5-2 junior Maddie Price hit 3 3-pointers and scored 13 points in the quarterfinal win. 

Foley's Fast Start: 6-1 senior center Tessa Foley was big early for Salem in quarterfinal win, scoring 10 of her 12 of her points in the first half.

Third Time is a Charm?: This is Salem's third straight trip to the semifinals where they lost the last two seasons.

Second Chances: The offensive boards will be key as Salem tends to hurt teams by hustling for second chances on their offensive end.

History Lesson: Salem is located in the Virginia Beach area but is located in the City of Salem near Roanoke. The high school was opened in 1977 by consolidation of Andrew Lewis High School in Salem and Glenvar High School in western Roanoke County. In 1983 the City of Salem established its own school district and Roanoke County Public Schools reopened Glenvar to serve western Roanoke. Between 1996 and 2005 the school won six Division 4 state football titles as well as boys basketball state titles in 1994 and 1999.

Easy as pi Trivia: Salem student Gaurav Raja at one time held the North American record for memorizing digits of pi when he recited 10,980 digits in June 2006.