For Maddy DeCou, the chance to coach for the college basketball team where she played was too good an opportunity to pass up.
So the head coach of the Washington-Liberty Generals girls high-school hoop team the past two seasons made the tough decision. She stepped down, accepting a job as an assistant coach in the same sport for Arlington’s nearby Division III Marymount University women’s team.
Once members of rival boys high-school basketball teams in Arlington, this past winter Alan Treakle and Liam Vitters played different roles for the same Division I men’s college squad that won a national championship.
Treakle, a Wakefield High School graduate, was the director of basketball operations, and Yorktown High grad Vitters was a walk-on freshman forward for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs, which won the National Invitational Tournament with a 5-0 record.
She once helped an Arlington youth team win a national flag-football championship. And now, Azzi Fudd has a college-level national basketball championship to her credit.
Last Sunday (April 6), the Arlington resident scored 24 points and grabbed five rebounds to help the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team win the Division I NCAA national championship with an 82-59 victory over the University of South Carolina in the 2025 title game.
For the first time in many years, a Yorktown High School boys basketball player has been chosen to an all-state team.
Jake Coulam, a 5-foot-11 junior point guard, recently was selected to the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 second team, being rewarded for his performance during the 2024-25 season.
A standout girls high-school basketball career ended with a final strong performance for Frances Shapiro.
The Washington-Liberty Generals’ senior guard was chosen the Most Valuable Player for the winning 6D North Region squad in one of the two annual season-ending Suburban Classic all-star games played recently at Oakton High School.
Dave Maher’s long span of diverse involvement in Arlington youth sports began by chance back in 1978.
Having moved out of the county, he is reducing his direct involvement. But not without one final victory.
After years of being involved in basketball at many levels, Arlington native Alex Eisenberg finally received the opportunity to be a high-school head coach this past season.
The Washington-Liberty High School graduate was in charge of the private-school Oakcrest School Chargers girls team in Vienna as first-year head coach.
After a standout regular season, the Arlington Travel Basketball League’s Division I fifth-grade Commandos boys team capped its winter campaign by winning a championship in the Fairfax County Youth Basketball League playoffs.
The team finished with a 16-1 overall record, including winning its final 14 contests. The top-seed Commandos were 3-0 in the playoffs.
For 13 years, Devaughn Drayton was a fixture as the head girls varsity high-school basketball coach of the Yorktown Patriots, winning 123 games in those seasons.
Drayton’s tenure as coach ended in recent days, when he stepped down from that position.
A four-year stretch of success culminated in a big finish for an Arlington girls basketball team.
The Arlington Travel Basketball (ATB) eighth-grade A Division squad won the season-ending Fairfax County Youth Basketball League tournament title with a 3-0 record — each time in convincing fashion.
Of Arlington’s eight varsity high-school basketball teams, the Bishop O’Connell Knights on the girls and boys sides received the highest final rankings in statewide polls compiled by MaxPreps.com.
The polls include public- and private-school teams and rank all of the teams in the commonwealth.
For the fourth time since an annual all-Arlington rivalry baseball game was re-established in 2019, the Yorktown Patriots defeated the Bishop O’Connell Knights.
The most recent win was by a 7-4 score at O’Connell on Wednesday (March 19) and was the Patriots’ second straight over the Knights.
