Chantilly Girls Rout Langley in Opening Round of Pohanka Classic



In their quest for their first ever Pohanka Classic Tournament championship, the Chantilly Chargers defeated the visiting Langley Saxons 61-34 in their opening-round matchup.

Chantilly's full-court zone defense gave the Saxons problems all night long, forcing them to turn the ball over 16 times, while not allowing any Langley player to finish in double-figures.

"Our bench came in and picked up the intensity for us a little bit, especially on the defensive end," said Chargers Coach Valerie Allen after the win. "When a team slows us down a little bit and plays a zone we have a hard time getting a rhythm sometimes and we rely on our defense to pick up our offense which needed to happen, and by the second quarter is when I think that really started to take place."

The Chargers worked the ball around well and had a balanced scoring effort, led by forward Allison Rowe's 12 points and six rebounds. 

Both teams looked to push the ball on fast breaks virtually every time they got the ball.

Langley sophomore Grace Goettman controlled the tempo for her team, displaying exceptional ball-handling skills, but was unable to find her shot early in the game.   Saxons' forward Jessica Stewart gave a great effort despite the loss, finishing with four points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. She held the Chantilly post players to limited numbers inside, forcing them to rely on jump shots which the Chargers drained consitetently throughout the night.

Junior guard Ashly Femi's scrappy style of play seemed to inspire her team, as she constantly dove on loose balls and swarmed Langley guards in the back court.

"I was really happy to see our offensive boards tonight, because we've been stale in that department," said Allen.

The loss drops Langley to 0-6 overall on the year, which has been a learning experience thus far for a team with just two seniors and seven sophomores. 

"I think they're going to sneak in a few wins when people least expect it," said Allen. "They're the type of team where if you don't take them seriously their going to scrap their way to a win. We've all been there as coaches, it's a tough way for them to start to go 0-6 but they need just keep at it."

Langley will face Hylton High School at 12:30 while Chantilly moves on to face the Annandale Atoms in the semi final game at 9:15 on their home floor.

Tuesday's Other Pohanka Classic Game

The Annandale Atoms defeated Hylton High School 61-39 in their opening-round game of the Pohanka Chantilly Holiday Classic Tournament.

Atoms junior forward Jackie Beathia led the way, notching a double-double with a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. Yet it was Annandale's defensive pressure that ultimately won the game for the Atoms, as they didn't allow any Bulldogs player to score more than eight points and shut down their leading scorer on the year, freshman Sydney White.

"We limited their number of shots," said Atoms' Coach Patrick Hughes after the victory. "Our main goal was to shut down White and we did that. We just really wanted to lock them down defensively."

Annandale took a 10-point lead early and managed to dictate the tempo of the game throughout, not allowing Hylton to get into a rhythm and throwing off their psyche. 

On offense, the Atoms got good ball movement and were able to penetrate and dish to wide-open shooters. After taking a 12-point lead at halftime, they stepped up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and held Hylton to just four points in that decisive quarter.

Atoms senior guard Kelly Hughes was focused defensively and was the main defender on White for much the game, constantly in her face not allowing her to get comfortable. 

"Kelly did a great job of defending their main scorer, which is never easy to do," Hughes said. "We didn't really trap or do any of that kind of stuff, just straight up man to man half court defense and we played them toughly."

The victory places Annandale in a 9:15 pm matchup on Wednesday against the host school Chantilly Chargers in the semifinals.