Leesburg, Va. — With their regular seasons winding down, the Loudoun County and Dominion High School girls basketball teams were both looking to put themselves in position to secure the No. 4 seed in the Dulles District tournament. After Dominion got the better of Loudoun County in their first matchup of the season, the Captains got their revenge, defeating the Titans, 52-32, on January 28 in Leesburg.
“This game was tremendous in terms of seeding for the playoffs for us.,” Loudoun County head coach Austin Campbell said. “This puts in a really good position to host a playoff game in the district tournament.”
[adrotate banner=”43″]The Captains—who won 5 of their 7 home games this season—were led by senior forward Elayna Whitley and freshman guard Riley White, who scored 12 points apiece in the win.
“I think a lot of the girls are more confident at home,” Campbell said. “I certainly like playing at home, so that is another reason why this win is so big for us.”
The Captains did a great job in the paint, outrebounding the Titans, leading Loudoun County to more second-chance opportunities
“We did a tremendous job at getting rebounds and tracking the ball after the shot just like we practice,” Campbell said.
Coming out of halftime, the Titans switched up their defensive approach and started to press and put a lot of pressure on the Captains offense.
“They have a tremendous defense and play with a lot of energy, and we knew that going into the game,” Campbell said. “We prepped this past week for their high intensity defense and finally in the game we were able to find those gaps and holes and find the open girls.”
In addition to a great job on the boards, Loudoun County put together a great defensive effort in the second half, holding the Titans to just 12 points.
“We finally learned to trust each other and commit to communication,” Campbell said. “For instance, if I’m going to go cover the corner I have my teammate backing me up to help. We finally showed that we can trust each other in that aspect.”
Following a win against Heritage on January 29 to lockup their position in the standings, the No. 4 Captains (3-3, 7-6) will need to continue to trust each other when they once again host No. 5 Dominion (2-2, 6-4) in the first round of the Dulles District tournament.
