The Washington-Liberty Generals were hoping otherwise, but the result in this season’s Liberty District girls basketball tournament championship game was déjà vu all over again.
For the second straight year, and again on the Langley Saxons’ home court, the second-seeded Generals (20-5) fell short — losing 48-37 in the high-school contest.
Langley was the top seed this season and last, with the Generals the second both years.
Washington-Liberty’s overall record stands at 20-5 entering the 6D North Region tournament. The defeat snapped the Generals’ six-game winning streak. Langley improved to 23-1 with its 17th straight win and is 3-0 against Washington-Liberty this season.
“Langley has always been very good on defense,” Washington-Liberty coach Horace “Buck” Willis told ARLnow.
Washington-Liberty’s 0-3 mark against Langley this season extends a lengthy losing streak against the Saxons. The Generals have never defeated Langley in Liberty District competition, going 0-30 since joining the league in the 2014-15 campaign.
In this season’s district-tourney final, W-L was hurt by turnovers throughout and poor shooting from the floor early in the contest — 2 of 12 in the first quarter and 4 of 14 in the second for 23% in the half.
“We were very focused and loose. We played strong defense and executed our game plan, but our shots didn’t fall early and that killed us, and we had too many turnovers,” Willis said.
After Langley opened the game with a 5-0 lead, Washington-Liberty rallied to take its only lead at 13-12 late in the second quarter. The Saxons responded to move ahead 18-14 at halftime. Langley led the rest of they way, leading by as many as 15 points in the third quarter.
“We had to double-team some on defense in the second half trying to catch up. That left some of their shooters open, and they hit shots,” Willis said.
Senior center Eve Jungman had 19 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks for Washington-Liberty. Anna Jungman scored six with as many rebounds and assists. Kathryn Wagener scored five with six boards and three steals, and Dylan Plummer scored five.
Washington-Liberty shot 30% for the game against Langley’s season-long stingy defense.
The Generals were 2-1 in this year’s district tournament, with two wins by blowouts at home. The squad downed the bottom-seed Herndon Hornets, 87-61, in the first round, then routed the third-seed Yorktown Patriots, 62-36, in an all-Arlington clash in the semifinals.
Washington-Liberty went 3-0 against Yorktown this season.
The Generals took control early in the semifinals against Yorktown, building a quick 10-0 lead and remaining comfortably ahead from there.
Eve Jungman had a double-double to lead W-L, scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to go with two steals. Wagener scored 12 and had six assists.
Riley Krohl had eight points, Anna Jungman (five rebounds, four assists, two steals) and Camille Marston (three rebounds) scored seven each.
For Yorktown, center Olivia Shiplett had 12 points and eight rebounds, Elena Debevoc scored nine with four boards and Elizabeth Porter had seven points.
Eve Jungman scored 25 against Herndon.
Yorktown (13-9) defeated the sixth-seeded McLean Highlanders, 61-26, in the first round as Eleanor Mahshie scored 16.
In first-round region action Tuesday night, Yorktown is scheduled to play at the Centreville Wildcats while Washington-Liberty hosts the Chantilly Chargers.
NOTES: The 20 wins are the most by a W-L girls basketball team in program history. Also, all three Arlington girls public-school varsity basketball teams have won more games this season than last. The Wakefield Warriors won seven times this season, up from five a year ago. Washington-Liberty improved from 17 wins to 20 so far, with Yorktown winning 13 so far after 10 a year ago.
