Meador Hits 1,000 Career Points, But Late Charge for Centreville Girls Falls Short

On a night when Centreville nearly pulled a huge upset, senior Erin Meador made Wildcat history as only the third player in the program’s history to score 1,000 points for her career.

“Everyone here is extremely proud of her,” said Centreville coach Wally Horton. “I keep telling everyone there isn’t another player in the area that I would trade for her.”

After a slow start to the third quarter, the Cougars came alive in the last four minutes to extend their already large lead even further. But in the fourth quarter, when Oakton coach Fred Priester took out the starters, Centreville almost came all the way back. In fact, thanks in large part to Meador, Centreville actually cut the deficit down as low as three points, but wasn’t able to get any closer, losing 69-64.

“I’m disappointed at the loss, no question,” said Meador. “But if we play like we did in the second half I think that we can play with many teams in the area.”

There was a lot of raw emotion in the Oakton gymnasium before the start of the game between the Cougars and Wildcats.

Senior Night brought out the emotions from parents, players, opponents and staff, as the contributions of all five Oakton seniors and the six Centreville seniors were honored before the game. The ceremony took so long, the game didn’t begin until about 15 minutes after its scheduled start time.

“It's definitely a bittersweet moment,” said Oakton coach Fred Priester. “All of these girls have worked hard their careers, and now it’s almost time for it to be over.”

Camille Rainer, Halley Cummins, Corinne Holland, Danielle Davis and Zora Stephenson celebrated their contributions to the Cougar program. But when the game started, they blitzed the visiting Wildcats, led by, of all people, sophomore Elizabeth Manner. She finished the game as the leading scorer with 21 points, but was sick and left immediately following the game.

“She’s really improved since the beginning of the season,” said Priester. “She gives us an option down low that opponents have to game-plan for.”

Junior Caroline Coyer also hit four 3-pointers during the game and finished with 16 points for the Cougars, while Stephenson added 15.

Both teams now go into their regular season finales, with Oakton having wrapped up the first seed in the Concorde District tournament.  Oakton closes out its regular season at Westfield. Centreville is still jockeying for position and travels to Robinson for their finale on Friday.