Purcellville, Va. — After playing in the VHSL Class 5 State championship game in 2022, the Woodgrove High School girls basketball team had a premature ending to their 2023 season when William Fleming knocked them off in a VHSL Region 5D semifinal.
Well, the Wolverines will have a chance to redeem themselves in 2024, earning a trip back to the state title game after defeating Tuscarora High School, 49-29, in a VHSL Class 4 State semifinal on March 1 in Purcellville.
“It’s a long road back,” Woodgrove head coach Derek Fisher said. “You just try to peak at the right time. We still have things to work on, but that’s just part of the journey.”
Sitting at 28-1, Woodgrove’s 2023-2024 journey has been on an upward trajectory since day one. The Wolverines have an average margin of victory of nearly 40 points, and the only blemish on their record came on January 12 in the form of a 3-point loss to Desert Vista High School, the No. 1 ranked team in the state of Arizona.
“Playing a more competitive schedule early helped us,” Fisher said. “We got to see some of our flaws early in the season.”
Despite their complete control of their district and region opponents, the Wolverines knew they’d have their hands full in their state semifinal against Tuscarora. The Wolverines beat the Huskies in their only regular season matchup, 69-40, on January 24 in Leesburg then again in the VHSL Region 4C championship game, 70-39, on February 22.
Coming in averaging nearly 77 points per game, the Wolverine offense was stunned early as the Huskies held Woodgrove to just 7 points in the first quarter of the state semifinal.
“When you play somebody three times, they know how to play you, they know your personnel,” Fisher said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, but that’s because they were playing really good defense.”
While the Wolverines failed to reach the 10-point mark in the first quarter, they did grab double-digit offensive rebounds in the first frame, giving themselves second, third, and even fourth chances, while the Huskies continued to bear down on defense.
“We did a great job rebounding on the offensive end,” Fisher said. “We gave ourselves a lot of extra shots which was the difference tonight.”
Heading into the second quarter tied 7-7, Woodgrove started to take advantage of its rebounding mismatch, opening the second quarter on a 14-1 run.
The Wolverine lead ballooned to 14 early in the second half when senior guard Sadie Shores knocked down a triple to extend the lead to 26-12.
However, everytime it looked like the Wolverines were going to pull away, Tuscarora turned to senior forward Alysa Carrigan for an answer.
Following the Shores three, Carrigan knocked down a short jumper to cut the lead to 26-14. Then, on the very next possession, Carrigan grabbed a defense rebound before going coast-to-coast for an and-one to make it a 3-score game. Carrigan finished the night with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots.
“We wanted to limit the easy shots and live with the difficult shots. [Carrigan] made some very high level shots, but if we gave her too many easy shots, we knew it’d be over,” Fisher said. “She was outstanding all season. She’s a tremendous player and had a tremendous career.”
While Carrigan did all she could to keep the Huskies in the game, the Wolverines had too many answers and rebounded the ball too well to ever let Tuscarora get within striking distance.
Shores led the Wolverines with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. Freshman forward Amaya Ramey chipped in 11 points and 9 rebounds while senior guard Angelina Nice added 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots.
Woodgrove (8-0, 28-1) will look to balance their senior experience with their youthful exuberance when they make the trip to the VCU Siegel Center for the Class 4 State championship game against Hampton on March 8. Tipoff is set for 12:30pm.
“It’s been a really long season, but we’ve taken it one game at a time,” Nice said. “Now, we get to head to the state championship. It’s more than we could ever ask for.”
Sam Mesecar captured 200+ photos at the game!
Woodgrove Stats
Player Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
Sadie Shores | 15 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4-for-4 |
Amaya Ramey | 11 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
Angelina Nice | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0-for-0 |
Mya Bundick | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-2 |
May Marsh | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1-for-2 |
Valerie Blankenship | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
Lyla Brown | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Totals | 49 | 41 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 5-for-8 |
Tuscarora Stats
Player Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
Alysa Carrigan | 15 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3-for-4 |
Jessica Owusu | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2-for-5 |
Audrey Szebalskie | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Delainey Duggan | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Natalie Tikalsky | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Sicily Ure | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Paige Hahn | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Chloe Page | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Lily Middleton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
Totals | 29 | 26 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5-for-9 |