West Springfield Girls Knock off Oakton in Regional Semifinal

Every time Oakton showed a glimmer of hope in Friday night’s Northern Region girls’ semifinal, West Springfield junior guard Jordan Miller showed up to turn out the lights.

After the Cougars’ Danielle Davis nailed a three to give Oakton its only lead at 5-2 90 seconds into the game, Miller answered with a long-range bucket of her own. The shot sparked a 15-2 West Springfield run to end the quarter. The Spartans never looked back en route to a 66-51 win, earning a trip to the regional final, which also means a berth in the state playoffs. They’ll face T.C. Williams on Monday for the regional championship.

The win gave West Springfield some satisfaction after Oakton won the last matchup between the teams in last year's regional final.

Ahead 17-7 after eight minutes and 29-12 at the half, some teams might have tried to coast the rest of the way, but West Springfield knew Oakton would mount a comeback, and Miller was there once again to staunch the bleeding.

The game was made a little easier for the Spartans when Caroline Coyer, the Cougars’ leader on the floor, was whistled for two fouls seconds apart late in the first quarter and picked up her third with 6:33 to play in the first half, relegating her to the bench until the break.

At the same time, Oakton’s usually on-target shooters Davis and Zora Stephenson found themselves off the mark after being harassed by long-limbed Logan Battle and Nora Osei. The Cougars missed at least eight 3-pointers in the first half while making just one. Oakton sophomore Elizabeth Manner, who had scored at least 10 points numerous times this season, had trouble finding space inside due to West Springfield’s quickness in the paint.

In the first half, Battle and Osei were knocking down shots at close range, while April Robinson, Amy Berglund and Miller were threatening from outside.

At halftime, Oakton coach Fred Priester said he asked his team to try to cut the West Springfield lead to 10, and the Cougars woke up in the fourth quarter, battling back to 42-32 with 6:20 to play after Caroline Coyer hit a free throw. But a three from Miller stopped whatever momentum was moving in Oakton’s direction, making it 45-32 with 5:52 to go.

“It helped us pick up spirit a little bit because we had gotten down,” said Miller, who finished with 14 points while hitting three 3-pointers.

The game wasn’t over yet, as Caroline Coyer hit a three and Katherine Coyer nailed a pair of free throws to bring the game back to 10 points with 3:30 to go. But Robinson answered with another long-range jumper to keep the Spartans’ lead in double-digits. About 90 seconds later, Miller put the game away when she got loose behind Oakton’s full-court defense for an easy lay-up to make it 58-41.

“We knew the second half was going to be tougher, because they’re a great offensive team. We had to tough it out, and we did,” said West Springfield coach Bill Gibson. “We knew they were going to start hitting some threes. We just had to keep composure and keep playing on offense.”

In spite of all its success this season, Oakton (25-2) never really learned how to come from behind.

And against as strong a team as West Springfield (26-1), a double-digit deficit was too much to overcome.

“Down 25-20 would have been a doable thing,” Oakton coach Fred Priester said. “We missed a few shots and they hit a few shots. 29 points wasn’t out of the question for (West Springfield) the first half, but (scoring just) 12 is pretty hard to come back from.”

“Twelve points in the first half. I don’t think that’s been done (this year),” said Gibson, whose squad will face T.C. Williams for the fourth time this season, which presents its own set of problems.

“When both teams have played each other so often, we really get to know their players and all of the plays,” Miller said, adding that the same goes for the Titans. “It’s just a little more difficult because you have to execute better, but that’s something we’re good at. As long as we come out there with more heart than them, we should be good.”

T.C. Williams advanced to the regional final with a win over Robinson in the first game of Friday night’s doubleheader.

Even though Friday’s win means the Spartans have guaranteed themselves at least two more games, they’re not taking Monday’s game lightly.

“You want to win it. It’s a home court advantage, no doubt about it,” Gibson said of the loud West Springfield gym which set up shop in Robinson’s gym. “(But) T.C. Showed how tough they are tonight, so it’s no slacking. We’ve got to be ready to play ball with them.”