The Lady Jaguars ended the Joe Cascio tournament and the year 2014 on a high note with their third victory of the season (and their second over Jefferson HS) as well as their first 50+-point offensive output of the season. In this game the three veteran varsity players gave Coach Pritchett a comfortable lead to provide her newer players more court experience, particularly after one of her veterans exploded for 18 points in the first fifteen minutes of the game.

The game opened with Falls Church falling behind in the first minute due to a defensive lap in man coverage. The Lady Colonials took advantage of three other openings to notch 8 first-quarter points. It wasn't enough to keep their lead. The trio of Falls Church starters from last season netted 11 points in those first eight minutes, led by Amber Ecelbarger's combination of two- and three pointers and free throws. Leann Loch and Natalie Samaha also contributed baskets to give the Jags a lead they would never yield.

Ecelbarger essentially put the game out of reach with a monster 11-point second quarter, highlighted by three more "3s" to give her four for the half and the most in any entire game of her three-year varsity career. Leann Loch struck paydirt with a 10-foot jump shot to light the scoreboard for the sixth straight quarter over the past two games. Both juniors were perfect at the line as they combined for five more free throws in the quarter. Amy Rock completed the Lady Jag scoring in this frame when she landed her first "3" of the season. At the same time, Coach Pritchett tightened the Falls Church defense to hold TJ to two baskets for the quarter. The half ended with Falls Church up 30-12.

The same four Lady Jags who scored in the first half all provided third quarter points to widen the lead to 24 points. Coach Pritchett provided more court time to her first-year varsity players, including Sara Halverson, who proved to be a very active guard for much of the game, and junior guard Connie Vuong who scored her first basket and free throw of the season and added a nifty assist to Natalie Samaha in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Meg Verhagen grabbed rebounds and freshman Mia Pendleton landed a fourth-quarter basket -- the fifth game she has scored in her inaugural season.

The game ended with six different scorers for Falls Church, including a brand new one (Vuong) and three in double digits. Senior Natalie Samaha enjoyed her career-high game while junior Leann Loch had her second consecutive game over 10 points, averaging 11 per game over her last five games. For junior Amber Ecelbarger, her 12th three-pointer in 10 games matches her total from her entire sophomore season. Her 20+-point game is the fourth of her career -- a mark unmatched by a Lady Jaguar in the past eight years.

Scoring Summary: Amber Ecelbarger, 21 points; Leann Loch, 13 points; Natalie Samaha, 12 points; Amy Rock, 5 points; Connie Vuong, 3 points; Mia Pendleton, 2 points.