The McLean Highlanders successfully defended their title as the Liberty District tournament girls basketball champions this winter, winning the crown with a 3-0 record as the No. 3 seed.
McLean (17-8) won its semifinal and championship games of the high-school event on the road against higher seeds. The Highlanders downed the second-seed Washington-Liberty Generals, 36-33, in the semifinals, then the top seed Langley Saxons, 42-36, in the final.
McLean defeated Langley, also the top seed, in last season’s district final.
In this season’s championship game, McLean was ahead 18-6 and 20-9 in the second quarter and stayed ahead the rest of the way. Langley rallied to pull within 31-30 in the fourth quarter, then McLean scored six straight to move in front 37-30. Free throws by Alyssa Evans and Vilte Kacerauskaite in the closing seconds clinched the victory, the eighth straight for McLean.
Macy Crawford, Tatum Olson, Allyson Hodder, Cora Stevens and Ava Stewart were other top producers in the tournament for McLean, under a new head coach this season in Pat Deegan, who is a veteran of coaching other girls teams for many years in Northern Virginia.
Washington-Liberty led McLean for much of the second half, but was outscored 7-0 over the final four-and-a-half minutes of the game.
The score was tied at 9 at the end of the first quarter, with McLean leading 19-17 at halftime. The Generals rallied to lead 31-26.
Kacerauskaite made a three-pointer with 3:30 to play to give the Highlanders a 34-33 lead. She later made two foul shots for the final 36-33 score.
McLean downed sixth-seed Herndon, 66-38, in a first-round district-tourney game.
For their performances this season, Kacerauskaite and Olson were first-team 6D North Region selections. Both also were first-team all-district choices, with Evans making second team. Hodder was picked honorable mention and made the all-defensive team. Stevens made the all-rookie team.
Following district competition, McLean moved on to the 6D North Region tournament where it lost to the Madison Warhawks, 47-29, in the first round.
Langley (21-4) received a first-round district-tourney bye then defeated Yorktown, 46-35, in the semifinals. Langley pulled away from Yorktown in the fourth quarter behind strong offensive rebounding and making multiple foul shots. The Saxons led just 33-32 very early in the fourth period.
District and region Player of the Year Anya Rahman had 15 points and made 10 of 12 free throws for Langley. Bri Borcherding had 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight steals; Vicky Zawisza had seven points and five boards; and Maddie Shamloo had four points, six rebounds and three steals.
Borcherding had multiple offensive rebounds in the fourth period to keep possession of the ball for Langley.
Rahman scored 10 against McLean and Borcherding and Shamloo eight each.
Langley’s season ended with a first-round 60-42 loss to Chantilly in a first-round region game.
Langley’s Payton Daley was chosen second-team all-region and head coach Amanda Baker was the region’s Coach of the Year.
