The Lady Majors whipped Falls Church at Mount Vernon HS to snap the Lady Jags two-game winning streak and end what had been a steadily improving Jags performance against this perennial powerhouse, dating back to last season. For the first time in five games against the Lady Majors during Coach Pritchett's two-year tenure, her Lady Jags failed to score 30 points in a game against Mount Vernon; today they failed to even reach 20 points.

Both teams opened the game shooting poorly. The Lady Majors attempted thirteen "3"s in the first half and converted none of them. Amber Ecelbarger landed her first two "3" attempts -- one in each of the first two quarters -- but the Lady Jags proceeded to miss ten other first-half shots, mostly from close range. Four free throws split evenly between Ecelbarger and Leann Loch served as the only additional points to the long-range field goals until freshman Leah Shaw took a pass and charged three quarters of the length of the court to sink a layup as the only other basket of the half. Mount Vernon's spot-on inside shooting game dominated when their perimeter shots faltered, landing nine close-range baskets to take a 23-12 lead into intermission.

It got worse from there. Coach Pritchett clearly inspired her team to rebound more aggressively (which they did) but the additional offensive and defensive boards failed to convert to Jaguar points and also failed to stifle Mount Vernon's offense. The Lady Majors never solved their three-point woes, landing one for the afternoon, but their impeccable inside game dominated the rest of this contest. Mount Vernon outscored Falls Church 35-7 in the final fifteen minutes to run away with this game by a 40-point margin.

Three games played in a mere 65 hours took its toll on the Falls Church starters. Coach Pritchett frequently substituted fresh legs into the game and although no substitute scored, the court experience will be valuable. Ecelbarger fought off occasional double-team coverage to score in double digits again; the junior point guard also grabbed six rebounds, and added three steals. Leah Shaw was available for the first half only, yet managed to leave the court after lighting the scoreboard again which she has now done at least once in every varsity game she has played (sixteen and counting). Both players and their teammates need to be much more productive if they hope to climb in the Conference 13 standings over the final two weeks of the regular season.

But first, time to rest. . .

Scoring Summary: Amber Ecelbarger, 10 points; Leann Loch, 4 points; Natalie Samaha, 3 points; Leah Shaw, 2 points.