The 5th place Lady Statesmen defeated the 6th place Lady Jaguars at Marshall HS to close the regular season for both teams. Falls Church opened with a 6-0 run only to see it fade to a tie by the end of the quarter, falter to a four-point deficit at the half, and then plummet another ten points early the second half. The Jaguars could never close the gap to even single digits and lost the game by 11 points.The team suffered from a tremendous number of unforced errors (at least 15 of them before the counting ceased), low shooting efficiency, and a bizarre unwillingness to shoot the ball with an open basket just a few feet away. Conversely, Marshall seemingly had no players harboring any inhibitions about shooting.  As a result, the Lady Statesmen had nine different players score in this game, while  two Falls Church players netted all but one basket and two free throws tonight for their team's points.

Leann Loch turned in a second straight dominating performance for the Lady Jags with a career high game in points as well as 11 rebounds (her third double-double of the season). She also added four blocked shots and two assists. Raising her season scoring average to 9 points/game, Loch finished among the top twelve in scoring average in Conference 13 -- repeating as the fourth highest-scoring forward -- and likely ended the season as one of the top five rebounders in the conference; ditto for blocked shots. Amber Ecelbarger joined her junior teammate in double-digit scoring with her 15th game of 10 or more points. In addition, Ecelbarger landed her 22nd three pointer of the season (the 50th "3" of her varsity career). She finished the regular season 5th in scoring in both total points as well as points/game within Conference 13 and finished the regular season as the fourth highest scoring guard for the second straight year.

Injuries and illness depleted the varsity over the past week; only seven varsity players dressed for this game. Coach Pritchett brought up four freshman girls from the JV and freshman teams to buttress her roster for tonight: Rasha Benhamida, Nyeisha Gibson, Katie Ngo, and Kimberly Roxbrough. Of the four Rasha Benhamida saw court time in the fourth quarter and played solidly at the guard position, presenting a promising glimpse for the future. But for now, the team prepares to face Mount Vernon in the first round of Conference playoffs next week.

Scoring Summary: Leann Loch, 19 points; Amber Ecelbarger, 12 points; Natalie Samaha, 3 points; Brittney Barbaro, 1 point.