The Lady Jaguars snapped a four-game losing streak with a hard-fought victory at Briar Woods HS tonight. This game featured the steady and reliable play of two three-year Varsity veterans but also highlighted the best combined play of the two freshman Jaguars.

Falls Church took an early first-quarter lead with a "3" and a steal-and-layup by Amber Ecelbarger, but the Lady Falcons answered with 8 points to close the quarter up by three points. The home team built on the lead early in the second frame before the Jags started to counter-punch with two more baskets by Ecelbarger and an additional two by Leann Loch who converted well-executed picks and roll to tie the score. Briar Woods ended the late quarter stalemate with a basket at the buzzer to take a two-point lead into intermission.

Briar Woods built up their lead to six points early in the third quarter before the two Falls Church freshmen made their mark on this contest. Leah Shaw--who grabbed rebounds and dished out an assist in the first half--swished a three-pointer to score in her 14th consecutive game. Mia Pendleton sunk two perimeter shots of her own. Loch, Ecelbarger and Natalie Samaha also added more baskets to give Falls Church a three-point lead to carry into the fourth quarter. That lead quickly grew to seven points when Ecelbarger drove and twisted her way to a layup and Leann Loch picked and rolled her way to a banked basket.

That lead disappeared in a matter of minutes when the Lady Falcons soared back to tie the score, 34-34, with half a quarter to go. Mia Pendleton gave the lead back to the Lady Jaguars with her third basket of the game -- another swished perimeter shot. After Briar Woods tied it again, Ecelbarger answered the step-up call and arced a two-point baseline shot. Coach Pritchett called time-out with two minutes to go to instruct her team on ball control. Her players responded as soon as they stepped back onto the court with adept back-court triangular passes between the guards who took another minute off the clock before Leann Loch took a pass and nailed a tough clutch shot to bring up the Jaguar lead to four points with 40 seconds left. The Lady Falcons cut it to two and got the ball back at the far end with 11 seconds left. They quickly raced the full length of the court but their final shot attempt in the closing seconds would not fall through for them and Falls Church celebrated victory at the buzzer.

Loch and Ecelbarger have now combined for at least two-dozen points in each of their past three games. Ecelbarger added 4 steals and 7 assists to have a hand in 13 of the Jaguars' 17 baskets tonight. Another noteworthy pairing was Shaw and Pendleton who combined for 4 baskets, 8 rebounds and solid ball control in the closing minutes to preserve the lead and celebrate their 5th victory in their inaugural season together. 

Scoring Summary: Amber Ecelbarger, 16 points; Leann Loch, 11 points; Mia Pendleton, 6 points; Leah Shaw, 3 points; Natalie Samaha, 2 points.