The blood dripping from the deep gash under Samantha Porter’s left eye told the story of the game. It was round one of the regional tournament, and both the McLean Highlanders and the Mount Vernon Majors had come prepared to scratch, claw and fight. But on this night, it was the team with no seniors, the small, but feisty Majors who walked away with a 69-57 win.
The Majors had five players reach double figures in scoring, four of them underclassmen, and will now face T.C. Williams in the second round of the regional tournament on Wednesday night.
“The difference tonight was how we defended,” said the Majors’ coach, Courtney Cotter, who played college basketball at Barton College. “We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores, so the regionals was a new environment for them.”
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Mount Vernon bolted out to an early 18-6 advantage and seemed poised for a blowout victory. But McLean senior guard Andie Romness, who will attend the University of South Carolina next year on a soccer scholarship, helped get her team back into it with some torrid outside shooting. A Romness 3-poiner at the buzzer sent the Highlanders into the half trailing by just four, 28-24.
Mount Vernon started the second half with an 8-2 run, thanks in large part to the stellar play of sophomore guard Kelly Loftus, who finished with 16 points on the night. McLean fought back right away, this time with a 9-1 run of their own, which brought them to within two at 37-35. Romness (27 points) was hitting from the perimeter, and sophomore forward Lisa Murphy (17 points) was using her size to get open looks beneath the basket.
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But McLean would get no closer, as the Majors turned out the lights on the Highlanders season with a 13-0 run that sealed the game, and reinforced why Mount Vernon is the No. 1 seed from the National District.
“Our coach got us hyped up at the half, he told us to step it up because if we lose, it’ll be the end of our season, and we didn’t want it to end,” said sophomore guard Taylor Dunham, (17 points) as she iced her knee after the game. “We want to prove people who doubted us wrong. Everybody doubted us because we lost our three leading scorers, all seniors last year, but we’re still the team to beat.”
Samantha Porter, who ended the night with 14 points and that nasty cut on her face, was elated by the win but was still feeling the effects of what was a very physical contest after the game.
“Yeah, I got clawed going for a rebound,” she said, looking down at her high black socks, which bear the words, “Spot Me,” on them. “They came down and their fingernail just sliced my face. It hurts a lot.” She added: “There was no foul. You’ve got to be tough to play basketball.”
