Purcellville, Va. — Heading into halftime of their Dulles District semifinal, the Loudoun Valley High School girls basketball team found themselves in a rather unfamiliar position: trailing the Tuscarora Huskies, 31-17.
Despite the double-digit halftime deficit, the Vikings never wavered and brought a renewed energy into the second half as they meticulously carved into the Huskies’ lead before eventually taking a lead of their own early in the fourth quarter.
Led by senior guards Jane Bodamer and Alison Pike and senior forward Ally Cassell, the No. 2 Vikings put together a brilliant second half effort to escape the No. 3 Huskies, 47-42, in a Dulles District semifinal on February 16 in Purcellville.
“At this point in the season, it’s lose and go home or win and continue, and our four seniors didn’t want to go home,” Loudoun Valley head coach Bill Reynolds said. “The seniors put us on their back tonight. We just came out in the second half with a lot of heart.”
[adrotate banner=”54″]Entering the district semifinal, the Vikings were outscoring their opponents 59-37 and had already picked up two regular season wins against the Huskies: 52-42 on December 8 and 53-51 on January 18. With the odds in their favor—and home-court advantage—Loudoun Valley quickly found itself in a deficit as Tuscarora point guard Grace Middleton and co. got rolling early.
In the first half, Tuscarora sophomore forward Alysa Carrigan, senior guard Katie Scheivert, junior forward Lillie Scheivert, and Middleton each found the basket as the Huskies took an early 18-9 lead.
Tuscarora added to that lead in the second quarter when Middleton buried a pair of threes to lead all first half scorers with 13. While Middleton managed the offense, the younger Scheivert dominated the boards and Carrigan rattled Loudoun Valley’s offense with her long arms and athleticism as the Huskies took a 31-17 lead into the half.
“[Lillie Scheivert] can jump out of the gym. You can’t outrebound her,” Reynolds said. “In our 1-3-1, we can trap and get a lot of steals, but it also leaves us susceptible to getting outrebounded.”
Coming out of the half, the Vikings turned in their 1-3-1 zone for a man-to-man defense and the momentum started to shift.
In the second half, Pike had one responsibility: slow down 2021 All-LoCo first team point guard Grace Middleton. And Pike was up for the challenge.
After Middleton’s quick start, Pike held the score-first point guard scoreless through the entire second half.
“Grace had an amazing first half, but Alison Pike didn’t give her any breathing room in the second half,” Reynolds said. “I think the switch to man defense really helped spark our intensity.”
With Middleton under control, the Vikings turned to the glass where Cassell cleaned up, finishing with 14 rebounds—including 9 in the second half—to go with her 16 points.
“When we switched to man, Ally did an incredible job crashing the boards,” Reynolds said. “Morgan Lockhart is probably the smallest person on the floor and she fought hard and got a few as well.”
With the new defensive intensity, an eye on the glass, and the will not to go home, the Vikings (13-2, 19-5) eventually overcame the 14-point halftime deficit to take the lead and escape the Huskies (12-3, 17-7) to advance to the Dulles District championship game where they’ll travel to No. 1 Broad Run (14-1, 21-2) on February 18 in Ashburn.
“If we come out and play with the intensity we had in the second half tonight, we’re going to be tough to beat,” Reynolds said. “It should be a good game.”
Derrick Jerry captured 150+ photos at the game!
Loudoun Valley Stats
| Loudoun Valley | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Allyson Cassell | 16 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7-for-8 |
| Jane Bodamer | 16 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4-for-5 |
| Elizabeth Thornton | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5-for-6 |
| Alison Pike | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Alex Phillips | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Morgan Lockhart | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Cora Ely | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 47 | 33 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 16-for-19 |
Tuscarora Stats
| Tuscarora | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Grace Middleton | 13 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-1 |
| Lillian Scheivert | 8 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Alysa Carrigan | 8 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1-for-3 |
| Colette Morris | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1-for-1 |
| Katherine Scheivert | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1-for-2 |
| Aniaya Knight | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-1 |
| Camryn Worley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Lea Lesho | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 42 | 26 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3-for-8 |