Schools

Warhawk Comeback Not Enough To Beat Cougars

Early Oakton lead too much for Madison girls basketball to overcome in 73-56 loss

Before Tuesday night, Oakton High School's girls basketball team had rolled over every opponent they've faced without looking back, racking up leads of up to 63 points in an undefeated season.

And in the early minutes of their matchup against rival it appeared the Cougars might do the same to the Warhawks as they came out on a 14-1 run to start the first quarter.

But the Warhawks, , weren't going to make it easy.

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Madison (4-3) came back with a run of its own, hovering six to 12 points behind Oakton for much of the rest of the first half and the start of the second. And though the Cougars eventually put the lead out of reach enroute to a 73-56 win, it was the closest any opponent had come to defeating Oakton (8-0) so far this season.

"Madison is a very good team. They're a young team but they're a good team and they're going to cause nothing but trouble for everybody that plays them this year," Oakton Coach Fred Priester said. "We're not going to spend all our time beating people by 20 [points], that's just not the way it's going to be ... We'll learn from this and we won't make some of the mistakes again — and I suspect they won't either."

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Despite the Cougars early start, it wasn't long until the Warhawks fought back. After a timeout by Madison Coach Kirsten Roberts Stone, the Warhwaks seemed to shake whatever early issues they had. Lead by a few Megan Leduc hoops, Madison ended the first quarter at 23-15.

While Katherine Coyer opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, the Warhawks began to reign in Oakton scoring, shutting down the paint and forcing Oakton to take mostly perimeter shots. Despite those gains, Oakton out-rebounded Madison offensively, leading to second or even third chances that lead to more  baskets. They also struggled to stop Coyer, who finished the first half with 18 of the team's 44 points.

"Oakton played a realy tough game. They're a very confident team and the Coyers do a great job leading them," said Stone, whose team went into the half down 44-31. "We need to work on defense and gel more as a team."

Scoring in the second half of the game was more even than the first: The Cougars outscored the Warhawks just 14-11 in the third quarter and 15-14 in the fourth, compared with much larger 23-15, 21-16 leads Oakton posted in the first two quarters.

For much of the third quarter, Madison answered every hoop Oakton put up, trailing by 10 and mirroring the halftime score 54-41 with two minutes to go.

The Cougars' full-court press, combined with the loss of Leduc, who left the game with a bloody nose after taking an elbow to the face, gave them a 58-42 lead going into the fourth.

Despite Leduc's return to the court with just more than four minutes to go in the game, some rushed Warhawk perimeter shots and missed free throws put the Cougars even farther out of reach, as the buzzer gave Oakton a final 17-point lead.

Junior Megan Henshaw, freshman center Kelly Koshuta and Leduc led the Warhawks with 15, 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Coyer lead the Cougars with 29 points; Manner added 16.

Roberts noted the defensive performance of sophomore guard Katie Kerrigan, who drew offensive fouls and made several blocks while also adding 7 points.

Though the early lead was ultimately what put the game out of reach, "I don't think my kids ever give up," Roberts said. "We have a long way to go."

The Warhawks face Centreville in the first round of the Bulldog Bash at 9 a.m. Dec. 27 at Westfield High School.


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