After a first-round bye then a quarterfinal home victory, the Potomac School Panthers have reached unfamiliar but welcome territory in the Division I private-school girls state basketball tournament.
The fourth-seeded high-school team will face the top-seed and multiple-time defending champion St. Paul VI Catholic (18-14) Panthers in a tournament semifinal game. The semifinal appearance in a state tourney is Potomac School’s first.
“One of our goals this season was to have this opportunity,” first-year Potomac School coach Krystal Ferguson said. “The last state title a Potomac School basketball team won was by the boys in 2008. That was before some of our players were born. I told them to let that set in.”
The semifinal contest is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. March 1 at Benedictine School in the Richmond area.
The Potomac School girls (21-8) have never won a state championship at any division level. Also, Potomac School and Paul VI will play for just the seventh dating back to the 1990-91 season, with Paul VI winning the past six. Paul VI routed Potomac School in a state-tourney quarterfinal in the 2016-17 season.
Potomac School earned a semifinal berth thanks to a 63-58 quarterfinal victory over No. 5 seed St. Anne’s-Belfield (20-4) of Charlottesville on Feb. 28.
The Panthers led the entire way, building early leads of 6-0 and 9-2. Their biggest advantage was by 11 at 28-17 in the second quarter. Belfield was within 57-52 in the fourth quarter, then the Panthers’ Sabrina Anderson scored her team’s final six points to ice the win.
Anderson finished with 24 points, six steals, three assists and she made three three-pointers. Zora Burrell had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists and two steals for Potomac School.
“I thought we stayed calm and composed, and I thought that was Sabrina’s most well-rounded game this season,” Ferguson said. “She did a little bit of everything consistently.”
Also for the Panthers, Zoe Myslewicz scored five, had eight rebounds and three blocks; Kerri Greene scored seven with four rebounds and two assists; Catherine LeTendre scored the game’s first six points on a three-pointer and three-point play before leaving with an ankle injury and not playing again; Sabrina Eldredge and Julia Jackson scored four each; and Margit Crittenberger had a basket and a steals
Second-seeded Bishop Ireton (22-9) and No. 3 seed Catholic (26-6) are scheduled to meet in the other Division I state semifinal March 1 at 7:15 p.m. at Benedictine.
NOTE: The state-tournament appearance is the third straight for Potomac School, which was 0-1 in the competition the past two seasons.
