Both McLean Boys, Girls Win, Advance in Playoffs

By Chris Clark

McLean 50, Stone Bridge 46

After getting out to a huge lead, McLean had to hold on in its 50-46 win over Stone Bridge in the first round of the Liberty District tournament Tuesday.

The Bulldogs struggled shooting early on as the pesky defense of the Highlanders led to a number of turnovers and clearly bothered Stone Bridge for much of the first half.

The Highlanders came out of the gate quickly, jumping out to a 32-18 lead at halftime. It seemed as if the Highlanders couldn’t miss, highlighted by their six 3-pointers in the first half, four of which came from Kevin Lastova.

“We hit six 3-pointers in the first half. We did a great job of running our offense, and Kevin is our best shooter and he hit four of them,” said Highlanders coach Kevin Roller.

The second half proved to be an entirely different game.

“You’ve got to give them [the Bulldogs] all the credit in the world,” said Roller. “Whatever this was, a 14- or 15-point game at halftime. They were on the road. They could have sat there and given your normal high-school effort. But they came in and they dug down.”

Stone Bridge rallied from down 14 points at halftime to bring the game within two points in the closing minutes of the game, led by sophomore John Allen.

“John Allen was awesome. He was hitting eight-foot turn-around after eight-foot turn-around,” said Roller. Allen poured in 16 points to help spark the Bulldogs in their comeback.

The outstanding performance by Allen along with the Highlanders’ inability to knock down free throws at the end of the game allowed the Bulldogs to come within striking distance of McLean’s lead.

McLean will face South Lakes in the second round Wednesday.

McLean 48, South Lakes 46

A last second steal by McLean’s Caroline Gray sealed a 48-46 victory for the Highlanders over South Lakes in the first round of the Liberty District tournament.

Both McLean and South Lakes seemed to have an answer for each other in a game that wasn’t decided until the last few seconds.

“Well, they say in playoffs you survive and advance,” said Higlanders coach Mike O’Brien, “and that’s what we did.”

“We played extremely hard,” said Seahawks coach Christy Winters Scott. “At times our focus was waning a bit. But I thought that everyone that came in played with everything they had…and that was our goal coming in.”

For South Lakes, senior Ashlei Sutton led the way with a phenomenal second half performance. Sutton ended up leading all scorers with 14 points.

“I thought she had an amazing game,” said Scott of Sutton. “She challenged her young teammates not to hang their head and cry, but instead to get back in the gym and prepare for next year.

“We had 12 freshmen and sophomores that played with us today out of the 15 kids,” said Scott. “Sutton had that sense of urgency, that’s the example that we need all the time, not just from our seniors. You don’t have to be a senior to play that hard.”

Just as the Highlanders began to pull away, Sutton came alive early in the fourth quarter to help keep the Seahawks in the game.

“A six-point lead isn’t safe with a team like that. An eight-point lead isn’t safe with a team like that with the way they run and can score,” O’Brien said. “Ashlei Sutton is a heck of a player that can break down anybody one on one.”

However, it was McLean’s inside presence, led by sophomore Lexi Slotkoff, that propelled the Highlanders to a win. Slotkoff poured in 13 points despite good defense from the Seahawks’ 6-foot-4-inch freshman, Abigail Rendle.

“South Lakes’ big girl gave us problems underneath,” said O’Brien. “I thought we got some good looks, and I think that just her being there and knowing that she was there affected some of our post shots.”