Of the four straight state championships the Madison Warhawks have now won, the latest might be the most unlikely, at least to some. But the title still counts the same.
Madison won its fourth in a row, and sixth overall, by defeating the Manchester Lancers, 49-46, in overtime March 10 at the Siegel Center in Richmond in the championship game of the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 girls state basketball tournament. Manchester was playing in the state final for the first time.
There were those who thought Madison would not be able to come so close to another state crown this season, because the team had graduated four starters off last year’s squad.
“There were doubters, but not us – our girls never gave up,” Madison coach Kirsten Stone said. “All of the state titles are different. But this one was kind of unexpected by others.”
Madison was 3-0 in the state tourney, finished 24-5 overall and won six straight playoff games, after going 0-1 in the Concorde District tournament. The Warhawks have now won 10 state-playoff contests in a row, dating back to the 2019-20 season.
In this season’s state final, the Warhawks’ winning points came on Stella Gougoufkas’ three-point play off a pass from Kayla Dixon with 15 seconds left in overtime. After a timeout to set up the winning play, Dixon drove into the lane. As the defense closed around her, she passed left to Gougoufkas, who scored on a layup, was fouled and hit the free throw to give the Warhawks a 49-46 lead.
Manchester (22-6) missed a desperation three-point shot at the buzzer, and the Warhawks celebrated with another title.
“I saw an opening in the lane,” Dixon said. “When the player guarding Stella came toward me, I threw her the ball.”
Dixon, who finished with 20 points, four assists and three steals, laughed that the final play was not set up that way. Six of her seven field goals came on driving layups or back-door plays.
“Kayla has a quick first step, and she can go past people,” Stone said.
Dixon made a key steal and a layup to cut Manchester’s lead to 43-42 with 1:46 left in regulation, continuing a Madison rally from a seven-point deficit earlier in the quarter. The score was tied at 44 heading into overtime.
Manchester took a 46-44 overtime lead, Dixon tied the score at 46 with two free throws, then later had the winning assist.
“We had that 12-0 run earlier in the game, so that gave us confidence we could come back from being behind in the fourth quarter,” said Dixon, who has played on all four state-championship teams.
Manchester took a 2-0 lead in the game, then Madison scored the next 12 points as the Lancers struggled by committing seven first-quarter turnovers and 15 for the game. Madison had just five turnovers.
Madison led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter, 21-19 at halftime and 32-31 after three periods.
Manchester was hoping for a faster-paced game. Lancers’ coach Rasheed Wright praised Madison for controlling a slower tempo.
“We wanted to have more possessions and we like to score off getting a lot of steals and turnovers. But Madison was very disciplined and didn’t make a lot of mistakes and ran their offense well,” Wright said. “Their players are really good when they don’t have the basketball. Then when we had the lead, we felt like we let that one slip through our hands tonight.”
For the game, Madison scored on 12 layups, including multiple back-door plays.
Madison’s fourth-quarter rally also included other layups by Dixon and Gougoufkas (11 points, four rebounds) and a jumper by Avery Griepentrog (12 points, nine rebounds, one block).
Another key to the rally was holding Manchester’s Rayne Wright (16 points, four three-pointers) to no points or shots in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“Limiting her in the fourth quarter was a big thing we talked about,” Dixon said.
Madison starting senior forward Sarah Link had five points and three rebounds. Starting point guard Adeline Suryabudi had one point, four assists and three boards, and Lillian Perkins had two rebounds and an assist. Suryabudi grabbed a key defensive rebound at the end of regulation to give the Warhawks the final possession.
Said Gougoufkas: “We worked real hard this season to get back here.”
“We had the right team chemistry,” Link said.
Madison’s other state-tournament wins were over West Potomac, 42-34, and Robinson, 34-24. See stories about those games at GazetteLeader.com.
NOTES: Griepentrog had 23 blocked shots in Madison’s seven playoff games . . . Madison was playing in the state tournament for the fifth straight season, going 0-1 in the 2018-19 campaign . . . Madison’s four-season overall record in those state-title seasons is 95-9 . . . Stone has won five VHSL state titles, four as Madison’s head coach and one as a player for the Warhawks . . . Link and Suryabudi were members of Madison’s last three state-title teams.
