Edison Girls Miss Chance at Outright Regular-Season Crown

After four straight victories by 20 or more points and an incredible 13-game winning streak, the Edison Eagles lost at Yorktown 60-39 on Thursday.

The result of the game, coupled with Mount Vernon's win over Falls Church, left the teams in a three-way tie for the National District regular-season championship.

It was senior night for the Patriots, but they were led by the stellar play of freshman point guard Mikayla Venson. She banked in a 3-pointer right before halftime to give her team a 31-17 lead, and they seemed to feed off that momentum in the second half as they came out forcing Edison into turnovers early and often.  The Eagles committed a total of nine turnovers in the third quarter.

“We clearly played a team that was hungrier than we were tonight,” Eagles coach Dianne Lewis said. “A team that’s going to play with the heart and passion that they did and come away with every loose ball and rebound deserves to win.”

Venson finished the game with 17 points, and displayed excellent dribbling ability and quickness constantly, weaving her way in and of double teams.

The Eagles had a cold shooting night and were unable to hold on to the ball, seemingly bothered by the full-court, aggressive defense from the Patriots.

Edison junior captain Ruth Sherrill lead her team with 12 points, but fouled out of the game early in the fourth quarter. 

“Edison’s a great team,” Yorktown coach David Garrison said. “I’m sure we’ll face them again in the near future and I’m sure it will be a completely different game and we’ll just try to bring the same intensity and play hard.”

Garrison referred to seeing the Eagles again in the near future almost as if to foreshadow a possible matchup between Edison and Yorktown in the National District tournament championship game.

The opening round of the National District Tournament begins on Monday at Washington-Lee High School.  The Eagles first round opponent is yet to be determined.