Arlington public-school basketball teams had the opportunity to square off against one another in action over the past week.
As the regular season passed the halfway mark and playoffs began to loom on the horizon, Liberty District games involving the Wakefield Warriors, Washington-Liberty Generals and Yorktown Patriots were played over a three-day stretch.
In recent action:
W-L girls squad defeats Yorktown, Wakefield: The W-L girls finished 2-0 in that stretch, routing both of their county opponents to improve to 14-3 overall and 6-1 in league play.
The Generals downed visiting Wakefield 62-28 on Jan. 20, then defeated host Yorktown by a similar 63-34 score Jan. 22, giving them a four-game winning streak.
“That was as good as we have played this season,” Washington-Liberty girls coach Horace “Buck” Willis told ARLnow about defeating Yorktown, which fell to 7-7, 3-4. “That was the type of game we want to play on offense and defense.”
Against Wakefield, the W-L girls fell behind early 5-2. Sparked by senior center Eve Jungman, the Generals then put together a 14-0 run to take the lead and were comfortably ahead the rest of the way.
Jungman finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.
Also scoring in double figures for the Generals were Kathryn Wagener with 17 points to go with six rebounds and three steals, and Anna Jungman, with 10 points, five assists and three steals.
Riley Krohl scored seven and had five rebounds, Camille Marston had six points and 12 rebounds, and Dylan Plummer scored five with three assists off the bench.
When the Generals faced Yorktown, the game was tied at 10, then W-L took control with a 10-0 run and was comfortably ahead the rest of the way.
Eve Jungman had 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists in the win. Wagener also was productive with 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Her points included three three-pointers.
Hannah Kelley made three three-pointers as well and scored 10. Plummer also made a trio of threes and scored 11; Anna Jungman had nine points and five rebounds; and Marston had three points and eight boards.
The Generals made 10 three-pointers and shot 46% from the floor.
For Yorktown, Olivia Shiplett scored 12, had six rebounds, three assists and a block, and Eleanor Mahshie scored seven with four rebounds and three assists.
The Generals also defeated Yorktown, 59-38, earlier this season.
For the Wakefield girls (6-7, 2-4) in their loss to Washington-Liberty, Brianna Gilbert had 10 points (two three-pointers) and five rebounds. Samantha Belvo scored eight, Lilah Denton had four points and three rebounds, Lucy Strawn scored three with four boards, and Dominique Harris had a point and six rebounds.
Yorktown boys defeat W-L, McLean: On Jan. 22, the host Yorktown boys (13-4, 6-1) topped Washington-Liberty, 50-36, to take over sole possession of first place in the district.
The Generals fell to 8-9, 1-6.
The Generals led, 10-8, at the end of the first quarter. Yorktown opened the second with a 10-0 run and was ahead the rest of the way.
“We had a good second quarter,” Yorktown coach Joe Keimig said. “We got a faster pace we wanted on offense and played good defensively.”
Yorktown outscored W-L 20-5 in that second period.
Jake Coulam scored 21 points, including 11 in the second quarter, and made three three-pointers to lead Yorktown. James Davis scored 13 and had nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Peter Cullen scored nine off the bench for Yorktown with four rebounds and two assists and Garrett Schmelling had four points.
For W-L, Carmichael Williams had nine points and four boards, Gabriel Smith also scored nine with three steals, Adam Dodini scored eight with two assists, and Luke Jones had seven points off the bench.
Yorktown earlier topped W-L this season, 43-40.
“They always battle and play hard against us,” Keimig said.
In a Jan. 20 district game, Yorktown downed the visiting McLean Highlanders, 46-36, to tie for first place. The loss was McLean’s first in district play this season.
The Patriots built a quick 6-0 advantage, then the lead flip-flopped in the first quarter until a layup by Davis gave Yorktown the lead for good at 18-17.
Yorktown’s lead increased to as many as 12 points in the third period, with McLean rallying to within four but getting no closer.
Davis scored 19, Coulam 12, Schmelling six and Charlie Ganbaatar five.
“We sped the game up some and slowed it down too,” Keimig said. “We did what we needed to do.”
Wakefield boys eke out victory over W-L: The Wakefield boys (11-5, 3-3) won their one rivalry game, defeating W-L, 47-46, in a seesaw Jan. 20 contest.
Wakefield trailed 46-44 with 20 seconds to play, then scored its final three points on foul shots resulting from two different technical fouls against W-L.
Senior guard Jeremiah Poole (12 points, four rebounds) hit all of those technical foul shots. Rayvon Hackley had 15 points and eight rebounds for Wakefield, Zak Amadou scored eight with four boards, and Tyson Ordenes scored six with 10 rebounds and five assists.
The game was close throughout, with four ties and eight lead changes.
Smith had 12 points, seven assists and four rebounds for Washington-Liberty. Williams had 11 points, Roy Smith scored eight, Jack Cameron had four points, five rebounds and two steals, and Jones scored five with four boards.
Wakefield also nipped W-L by a single point in the previous meeting between the teams, which was last season.
