After an exciting season, the girls’ basketball state semifinals on Wednesday, March 8, 2016 did not end as Oakton fans or players had hoped with a 47-38 loss.
The Cougars had a rough first quarter, trailing Langely 15-5. Going into the game, Alex Marquis, senior and point guard, went in with a certain mindset. “We are blessed to be here and are going to try our hardest,” said Marquis. Throughout the first quarter, Marquis, Delaney Connolly (11), Maddie Royle (11), Christin Butters (12), and Makenzie Brooks (12) together attempted seven field goals and two three-pointers. They only made two lay-ups. This rate of success was pretty frequent throughout the game.
One noticeable weakness for the girls was free throws. During the first half, the girls only scored 16.7 percent of their free throws. Langley, on the other hand, made 100 percent of their free throws — quite a large difference. The second half looked better, free-throw-wise, for Oakton’s girls, as they made 60 percent of them. The only thing that hurt Oakton was fouling. The Cougars became frustrated as the referees called more fouls against than Langley.
Oakton’s girls fouled enough times against Langley to give their opponents 25 free throw opportunities, 17 of which Langley made. There was some frustration from Oakton Coach Fred Priester and the Oakton student section as they could not understand how the referee came to the conclusion that Oakton’s “fouls” were indeed fouls. For instance, when a Langley player tripped, seemingly accidentally, a foul was called, but on more than one occasion, especially in the second half, one of Oakton’s players ended up on the floor and no foul was called. It became so frustrating that at one point, Coach Priester began yelling “Foul! Foul!” during a play he believed was in violation of the rules — a call that referees decided was not necessary.
As the differential in fouls assessed continued, the chants from the Oakton student section became more explicit. Many student spectators became quite frustrated, but there was some concern surrounding how the referees would respond. Fortunately, no technical fouls were called. In the beginning of the game, though, the student section was alive with cheers of “Let’s go, Cougars!” edging the girls on to take the lead.
The girls tried to do just that and they did not give up. In the last minute — when Oakton was behind 31-46 — Conolly, Kailyn Fee (11), and Abby Richardson (11) teamed up to execute a rebound that lead to a tip-in, made two layups, and achieved a free throw so that the score deficit was cut from 31-46 to 38-46. Oakton’s girls valiantly fought to the end.
After such an intense game, the two teams still maintained mutual respect. At the press conference following the game, when Langley’s head coach Amanda Baxter was asked if there was bad blood between the two teams. She responded by saying that “there is a lot of respect for that program [Oakton]; what they have done this year is incredible. We really admire what they accomplished.” Coach Priester also began the Oakton side of the press conference by congratulating Langley’s girls on their win and how well they played.
Now that the post-season is over, Oakton’s girls’ basketball team is looking forward to next season. However, when the Cougars return to the court next year, they will be without three seniors: Marquis, Butters, and Brooks. At the post-game press conference, the soon-to-graduate team members reflected on the season. “It’s just been a great season. All these girls are my family and it’s tough to end the season this way, but we played hard all season long so I can’t ask for anything more,” Marquis said. She also wanted to give this advice to future teams when they have to change their game plan: “We can’t get down on ourselves and we just have to find a new to do it.”
From spectators in Oakton’s gymnasium to the student section at the semi-final game, Oakton students gave the girls well-deserved support and cheered them along the entire way to Richmond. Going undefeated up to this point and making it this far is no small feat, and the Outlook wishes to congratulate the team on an impressive regular and post-season.
