Mustang Girls Defeat Central Woodstock to Advance to Regional Championship Game
By STEVEN BRIESE
February 24, 2012
The George Mason High School Girls Basketball team defeated Central Woodstock 54-46 on Friday night. With this victory, they advance to the Region B championship game on Saturday.
Mason came out of the gate fast, with Senior Leah Roth starting the scoring with a three pointer. Good defensive pressure and offensive rebounding had the Lady Mustangs in the lead by 16-6 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams played with intensity, with many scrums for loose balls and offensive fouls. Mason extended their lead to twenty one points in the second quarter, and went into halftime leading 36-19.
Central Woodstock fought back in the third quarter, outscoring Mason by 10 points and cutting Mason’s lead to only seven points. Coach LaBryan Thomas made several adjustments to start the fourth quarter, and those adjustments paid dividends. Senior Lauren Kane opened the fourth with a shot from beyond the arc for three, and Stephanie Cheney added two baskets from the low post to increase the lead to 13. Central Woodstock continued to threaten, but had to resort to fouling in the last two minutes. Senior Krista Kelly was fouled and sank both free throws with less than a minute left to put the game out of reach for the Falcons.
Central Woodstock double teamed Junior Stephanie Cheney all night, which opened up the opportunity for three point shots, with Mason scoring 18 points from three point range.
After the game, Stephanie Cheney said she was “happy that the team kept our composure at the end of the game and hit our free throws.” Cheney and Central Woodstock guard Katelyn Poston led the scoring with 15 points each. Sophomore Ashley Alexander scored nine, Lauren Kane tallied eight, Freshman Katie Goodwin had seven points, and Leah Roth six points.
The Mustangs will play for the Region B Championship on Saturday night at 8:00 at Eastern Mennonite University against Stuarts Draft.
Mustang Boys Beat Stuarts Draft in Regional Basketball Semifinal
February 24, 2012 by Falls Church Times Staff · 1 Comment
Mustangs Celebrate After Nipping Stuarts Draft
By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
Photos by ANDREW NICKLE
February 24, 2012
Lady Mustangs Win Regional Opener, Move on to Semifinal
February 22, 2012 by (see byline) · 1 Comment
By STEVEN BRIESE
February 22, 2012
The George Mason High School girls basketball team defeated Goochland High School 68-35 Wednesday night in the first round of the Region B Tournament, earning a spot in Friday’s Regional semifinal.
In the game played at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, the Bulldogs of Goochland started fast, hitting their first two shots to take a 5-0 lead. Mason Coach LaBryan Thomas encouraged his team to tighten the defense and saw the results right away. Three consecutive fast break baskets later, Mason was ahead 8-5, on the way to a 19-0 run. Mason ended the first quarter leading 23-7.
The Mustangs continued the pressure in the second quarter. Freshman Ava Roth finished the quarter with two steals that she took straight to the hoop to send Mason into the break leading 40-19.
The Lady Mustangs used their three point shooting in the third quarter to increase their lead to 30 points after back to back field goals by Sophomores Juliana Rollo and Jaya Chavern. Coach Thomas then gave the starters some well deserved rest and tried several combinations on the floor.
Senior Lauren Kane led all scorers with 18 points in her last game on the hardwood at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School. Stephanie Cheney tallied 13, Ashley Alexander scored 10, and Freshman Katie Goodwin added eight. The balanced scoring for the Lady Mustangs was completed by Jaya Chavern with five points, Ava Roth with four points, Leah Roth and Juliana Rollo with three each, and Taylor Briese with two.
The Lady Mustangs continue their pursuit of a return trip to the State Tournament with a 7pm game at Strasburg High School Friday night.
WEDNESDAY, 2/22: Mustang Girls Start Regional Basketball Play Tonight
February 22, 2012 by Falls Church Times Staff · Leave a Comment
The George Mason High School girls varsity basketball team will play its opening game in the Regional tourney against Goochland High School tonight, Wednesday February 22, at 6pm at the Mary Ellen Henderson gymnasium.
Boys Cagers Win Regional Quarterfinal
February 21, 2012 by Falls Church Times Staff · Leave a Comment
George Mason's Dmitri Venets goes up against Randolph Henry
By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
Photos by ANDREW NICKLE
February 22, 2012
The George Mason High School boys varsity basketball team defeated Randolph-Henry High School last night 56 to 44at Mary Ellen Henderson gymnasium to open the Region B tournament.
With the win, the Mustangs move on to play Stuarts Draft in a 7pm Regional semifinal game Thursday at Strasburg High School.
Phillippe Griffiths (2) shoots from the corner while Noel Obusan (12) looks on.
Jeremy Stewart protects the ball
Mustang Boys Basketball Team Begins Regional Play Tonight
February 21, 2012 by (see byline) · 1 Comment
By CHRIS CAPANNOLA
February 21, 2012
The George Mason High School boys varsity basketball team begins regional play tonight (Tuesday February 21) at 7pm at the Mary Ellen Henderson gymnasium against Randolph Henry High School. George Mason enters the regional tournament as the #2 seed, and Randolph Henry at the #7 seed. The Statesmen, from the James River District, have a 14-10 overall record and finished third in their league in the regular season. The winner of Tuesday’s game will advance to the regional semifinals on Thursday night.
In the district final game that propelled GM into the regionals, Bull Run District Player of The Year Noel Obusan scored 20 points and fellow First Team selection Nate Ogle added 13 as George Mason defeated William Monroe 67-54 Thursday night. Mason (22-4) won the regular season and tourney championships in the same season for the first time since the 2000-2001 campaign.
Senior guard Eion Oosterbaan played a near flawless game for Mason, scoring 14 points on 4-5 shooting, including 3 huge three-pointers. He also snagged 3 key rebounds, had 2 steals, and played stifling defense on Monroe’s explosive guards.
GM was down by as many as 10 points in the first half before Oosterbaan connected on two triples, and an acrobatic ‘and one’ bucket by Obusan at the end of the half pulled Mason to within one at 36-35 at the break. The game see sawed back and forth throughout the second half. Mason went on a 9-0 run to go up 49-40 in the third, but the Greene Dragons went on an immediate 9-0 run of their own over the next 3:23 to knot the game at 49. Another Oosterbaan long range dagger put GM up 52-49 at the end of the third.
Defense and rebounding allowed the Stangs to limit WM to only 5 points in the fourth period. Obusan put on a Globetrotter-like ball handling display in the final minutes, yo-yoing the ball back and forth as frustrated Monroe defenders tried for steals. He went 8-8 from the line in the stanza, not allowing Monroe to gain any ground. Jeremy Stewart went 6-6 from the charity stripe and Ogle was 6-6 as well, part of a solid 25-29 GM effort from the line for the game. Stewart also dished out 3 assists.
Mustang Girls 4-Peat District Championship
February 18, 2012 by Falls Church Times Staff · 1 Comment
By STEVEN BRIESE
February 18, 2012
The George Mason High School girls basketball team won their fourth consecutive Bull Run District tournament championship on Friday night against the Falcons of Central Woodstock, 59 – 49.
The Mustangs started fast, opening an 18-6 first quarter lead, but lost senior point guard Leah Roth to injury midway through the first quarter. Fortunately, sophomore Jaya Chavern and freshman Ava Roth skillfully executed the offense the rest of the way.
The Falcons closed the gap in the second quarter, and Mason went into halftime leading 25-22. Early in the third quarter, Falcons all-district point guard Katelyn Poston hit a three pointer to pull the Falcons ahead by one. Mason immediately answered with a three pointer by Juliana Rollo, followed by Stephanie Cheney scoring in the paint and hitting the foul shot. That put Mason ahead by 5 and they never looked back.
Stephanie Cheney led all scorers with 19 despite a constant double team, Juliana Rollo scored 9 on three point shots, Lauren Kane added 8, and Ashley Alexander tallied 6.
After the game, the celebration continued for the Lady Mustangs. Coach LaBryan Thomas was selected as Bull Run District Coach of the Year, and Stephanie Cheney was selected Bull Run District Player of the Year for the second year in a row. Lauren Kane was selected to the First Team for the Bull Run District, and Leah Roth was selected for the Second Team.
The Lady Mustangs will play their last home game of the year on Wednesday at 7:00 in the quarterfinal round of the Region B tournament.
Mustang Boys Basketballers Win District
February 17, 2012 by Falls Church Times Staff · 2 Comments
By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
February 17, 2012
The George Mason High School boys basketball team won the Bull Run District Tournament last night, defeating William Monroe High School 67-54 at the Mary Ellen Henderson Gymnasium.
Trailing by one point at the half, the Mustangs toughened their defense in the third period and began building a lead that grew to double digits by game’s end. Leading the way for GM was Noel Obusan with 20 points, followed by Eion Oosterbahn with 14 and Nate Ogle with 13.
The Mustang girls team plays in its District final contest tonight at 7pm, also at MEH, against Central Woodstock.
