Falls Church's 2015-2016 girls basketball season ended at Broad Run HS tonight as their Lady Spartans outlasted the Jaguars in a hard-fought contest. The Lady Jags left it all on the floor tonight, coming short in a nip-and-tuck game that was within reach all the way to the final seconds.

Senior Leann Loch opened the scoring with a banked shot off a nice pass from Mia Pendleton. Loch followed with a second short-range shot and Pendleton added a basket, followed by two free throws each from Amber Ecelbarger and Sierra Kennard. Leah Shaw hit paydirt with a "3" which gave Falls Church a 13-10 lead, but in the last minute of the quarter, Broad Run tossed in two baskets and a free throw to end the first quarter with a 15-13 lead.

The lead stayed in the Spartans' possession for the next eight minutes, but it widened by only a point. The Lady Jags zone defense limited Broad Run to three baskets and a few free throws, but Falls Church could only answer with two baskets and three foul shots, the highlight was Shaw's second "3" of the game and her 42nd one of the season.

Falls Church opened the second half determined to close the 21-24 deficit. Unable to sink "3s" with the same frequency they enjoyed for most of the season, the Lady Jags resorted to baskets up the middle by Ecelbarger, Loch and Kennard. But Broad run added one more basket than the Jags and took a five point lead into the fourth quarter, 35-30. Five minutes later and with three minutes left, however, the Spartans' lead grew to 11 points, 47-36, and all looked lost.

Falls Church refused to roll over in this contest. The Lady Jags fought back with seven unanswered points, primarily achieved at the penalty stripe with a consecutive string of free throws by Ecelbarger and Kennard, which closed the gap to 47-43 with a minute and a half remaining. Unfortunately, the Lady Jags were jinxed in their ability to land the long-range shot as well as the layup and were forced to resort to fouls to get the ball back but achieved no further gains. Broad Run sunk two free throws of their own to eke out the close victory.

Falls Church can hold its collective head very high tonight. They were the opponent that could not be easily put away, the fighter on the floor. Senior co-captains Ecelbarger and Loch fittingly walked off their last Varsity court as the co-high scorers on the floor for the Lady Jags tonight, capping a season of 475 combined points, and a career combination exceeding 1,600 of them. They and their teammates can look back upon the school's first winning season in anyone's memory, one in which they not only doubled their victories from last year, but set a mark in team offense and defense to strive for in future seasons at Falls Church HS

Scoring Summary: Leann Loch, 12 points; Amber Ecelbarger, 12 points; Sierra Kennard, 11 points; Leah Shaw, 6 points; Mia Pendleton, 2 points.