Westfield Girls Limp Into District Tournament

Oakton did what they do best as they defeated Westfield 55-24 Friday night. 

It was about as good a start to the night as Westfield could hope for. On senior night, the Bulldogs found themselves up 7-6 after the first quarter, looking like they were going to stick with the Oakton girls, arguably the best team in the region.

But a second quarter run by Oakton, fueled by sophomore Elizabeth Manner, gave Oakton lead 21-12 at halftime.

“They’re a tough team to stay with,” said Westfield coach Pat Deegan. “Once you fall behind or they get their thing going like that, there isn’t anyone better in the region.”

After that first quarter, Oakton (21-1, 10-0) regained its composure on defense, allowing Westfield (10-9, 5-5) few second chances and fed Manner the ball, when she scored nine of Oakton’s 15 points.

“They turned the temperature up a little bit on defense, got us moving faster than we can really move against them,” Deegan said. “We ended up taking some shots, maybe ill-advised. And then at the other end, they did what they do best. They shoot the ball really well.”

Oakton also did an outstanding job at defending Westfield’s leading scorer, senior Siobhan Beslow. Beslow was held to just two points off of free throws, due to the Cougars’ excellent team defense.

“They kept three kids on her every time, down low on the block,” Deegan said. “We don’t shoot the ball really well from the outside. We just couldn’t put in those open shots.”

Manner finished the game as the leading scorer, scoring 20 points, something she has done three times this season and in back-to-back games. Deegan had high praise for Manner’s performance.

“She did a great job,” he said. “It’s difficult to cover Elizabeth, because they put four kids who can hit 3-pointers outside. You can’t provide the kind of help you need to have. Elizabeth just did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunities that were provided.”

Westfield now moves on to the Concorde District tournament, and Deegan wants to get his players focused on what lies ahead.

“We’re going to have to recover from this game. This is probably the worst defeat we’ve ever experienced,” he said. “We’re going to have to just sort of get back to practice tomorrow and get moving and try to regenerate a little confidence and enthusiasm. And hopefully it will move into Tuesday.”

Senior Yawrley Ramirez led the Bulldogs with nine points and senior Jessica McNamara added seven points, including a 3-pointer. Rounding out the scoring, junior Maggie McInturff added four points and junior Lauren Hayden scored two points.

For Oakton, aside from Manner’s 20 points, junior Caroline Coyer and senior Zora Stephenson each had 12 points, both hitting two 3-pointers. Junior Katherine Coyer scored six points and senior Danielle Davis added five points.