Lee Girls Can't Solve Oakton, Fall 81-20

Oakton Coach Fred Priester had his players go through 90-minute practice before their game Tuesday night against Lee, and the Cougars still beat the Lancers by 61 points.

That tells you just about all there is to know about the difference between Oakton, a team that has been to the state final four the last two seasons, and Lee, a team made up of mostly underclassmen.

"It's tough," Lee Coach Harold Jackson said about matching up with Oakton. "They've been playing together since seventh and eighth grade. It's just hard. There's not much you can do if you don't have the talent right now."

Jackson said he would like to have more players on his squad dedicated to playing basketball year-round.

"We haven't had an AAU player the last two seasons," he said after his team scored just one point in the second quarter in an 81-20 loss. "When we were 27-4 three years ago, we had eight girls that played year-round. And it went from eight girls to nobody."

With two seniors who have signed Division I college scholarships -- Zora Stephenson (Elon) and Danielle Davis (Central Connecticut) -- the Cougars are hardly a fair match for a team like Lee, which has just one senior, one junior and seven underclassmen.

The Oakton skill showed early, as the first three shots the Cougars made were 3-pointers. Four players made shots from outside the arc in the opening eight minutes (Davis nailed a pair) en route to a 22-8 lead.

In Lee's disastrous second quarter, Stephenson connected on two more from outside and Caroline Coyer collected a handful of her 10 steals. She also worked inside on offense for five points.

Kelsey Bowman scored on a breakaway lay-up for the Lancers with seconds to go in the first quarter. They did not convert a field goal again until Meley Woldetatios hit a short jumper with 5:47 to go in the third quarter – more than 10 minutes. Elizabeth Manner answered with an inside move of her own for Oakton, and it was 55-11.  

It was surprising, in some stretches, to see the Lancers even get a shot off during an offensive possession. Steals by the tenacious Oakton defense made an impact, but Lee threw away plenty of passes under pressure from the Cougars, who pushed the Lancers farther from the basket each time they had the ball.

Unlike most of the teams in the area, Jackson won't have his team compete in a holiday tournament. The next time the Lancers will be on the court in a game situation will be at home on Jan. 4 against Annandale.

What does Jackson hope the Lancers can get out of almost two weeks of practice?

"(We need to) work on fundamentals – cut down on turnovers," he said. "We need to score some easy baskets – fast break points. And we need to play one-shot defense. A team gets a shot, they miss, we've got to get the rebound."

The top scorer for the Lancers was Addie Block, who hit two shots from the field and 3-for-5 free-throws for seven points. Woldetatios scored six, including a 3-pointer, and Jessica Kolonich had four points.

"We've been improving every game. I know it probably didn't look like it," Jackson said. "And I think we will continue to improve."