Loudoun County, Va. — As high school basketball gets underway in Loudoun County, a few local teams have already started to stand out among the crowd. In a two-district county, we wanted a way to put things into perspective. Enter: the LoCo Top 5.
Of course, if you’re into hard numbers the full Potomac District and Dulles District standings are available here.
[adrotate banner=”19″]1. Tuscarora (5-0, 12-0)
At 12-0, it’s hard to argue against the Lady Huskies in the No. 1 spot in LoCo. Tuscarora is plowing through its competition notching quality wins over Freedom, Stone Bridge and Heritage and taking care of business in games they should take care of business in. On January 5, senior forward Kennedy Middleton dropped 30 points to become the all-time leading scorer in Tuscarora history with 1,320 points (and counting!).
2. Freedom (5-1, 9-4)
There’s a bit of a shake up here as the Lady Eagles jump two spots to No. 2 after an easy win over Potomac District-rival Stone Bridge. Led by junior guard Jaelyn Batts, Freedom is long and athletic and pressures the basketball on every possession, throughout the entirety of every possession. The Lady Eagles fell to Tuscarora, 61-57, on December 8, but get to host the No. 1 Lady Huskies in a rematch on January 19 which could decide the Potomac District No. 1 seed.
3. Loudoun County (3-1, 11-2)
When the Lady Raiders are all in sync they are going to be hard to beat. The combination of senior guards Julia Ng and Natalie Villaflor and junior forward Morgann Harden is tough to stop on either end of the court. A loss to Loudoun Valley on January 3 might have surprised a few people (it shouldn’t have, but we’ll get to that), but Loudoun County is a perennial power that will compete for the Dulles District championship again this winter.
4. Loudoun Valley (2-0, 6-1)
A bubble team in our first go-round, the Lady Vikings proved themselves once again with a three-point win over No. 3 Loudoun County on the road on January 3. Junior forward Haley Pasqualone and junior guard Olivia Badura headline what might be the deepest team in Loudoun. Loudoun Valley will have its hands full though when it hosts Loudoun County on January 26; the Lady Raiders haven’t been swept by a team since 6A juggernaut Oakton bested them twice in 2013-2014.
5. Stone Bridge (2-3, 7-3)
I know the Potomac Falls faithful are going to disagree with me here – and frankly, they should – but there is so much potential bottled up in Ashburn. If Stone Bridge guards Anna LeMaster and Chloe Madgwick can find a third piece to their puzzle, their offensive capacity is frightening. Back-to-back Potomac District losses don’t look good for the Lady Bulldogs, but if they take better care of the basketball, they could sneak their way into the Potomac District final.