STATE EXTRA: Freedom stuns Lee

RICHMOND — Saturday’s Group AA, Division 3 girls state championship game was decided in the first quarter.

With only four points of Lee Lady offense in the first eight minutes Freedom claimed the title with a 58-33 win.

Freedom’s win was the first basketball championship for a school in Loudoun County, thanks in large part to Kelsey Buchanan’s triple-double.

Buchanan scored 11 points and pulled down 21 rebounds to go with 10 blocks.

After the loss, Lee coach Jeremy Hartman said that he expected his team to return to Richmond next season.

We will be back here again next year, I have no doubt about that,” he said said.

The Lee Ladies had trouble scoring in the paint all day against the 6-foot, 3-inch Buchanan.

“We tried to simulate that in practice,” Lee coach Jeremy Hartman said. “We brought in taller players, used brooms, all the old tricks. We just couldn’t get anything going.”

Angela Mickens scored all four Lee points in the first quarter, both baskets coming on fast break opportunities.

The Eagles’ showed their dominance with huge outputs from two other players along with Buchanan.

“Our game plan coming in was to guard [Mickens],” Freedom coach Jason Eldredge said. “We are an in-shape group of kids and thought that an uptempo style game would cater to our strengths.”

Dionna Scott scored 12 points in the first quarter and seven more in the second.

Midway through the second quarter, Lee trailed 30-8.

At that point, the Lee Ladies went on an 8-5 run, looking to get back into the contest, but with 3.7 seconds left in the half, Dionna Scott got into the paint one more time, fighting for a layup to end the Lee run just before halftime.

Meixandra Porter had the job of guarding Mickens for most of the afternoon.

Porter’s defensive prowess and senior poise showed as she held Mickens to 15 points while forcing her into 10 turnovers.

“I knew that I was going to do everything to get my team to this game,” Porter said. “Once we got here, I knew that was nothing that was going to keep us from winning. I wasn’t going to allow it.”

In the second half, Freedom just ran clock, scoring 21 points, while still managing to outscore Lee by four.

The Lee Ladies could never get an interior game started due to the size of Freedom inside, but continued to look for it since the team also couldn’t hit shots from outside missing every 3-point attempt.

“I hope that our program understands that the dedication we put in from April to October is what got us here,” Eldredge added. “How do you describe [being the first team in Loudoun County to win a basketball championship]? My goal is that one day, these girls’ children will read about this team.”

Dionna Scott’s 24 points led the Eagles. Porter added 18 to go along with Buchanan’s 11.

Mickens’ 15 points paced the Lee Ladies. Daquaa Scott added 10.