Second Half Spurt Leads Stallions to 60-32 First-Round Victory

It was supposed to be a classic David vs. Goliath matchup. The No. 2 seed in the Patriot Girls District Tournament was matched against the No. 7 seed in the first round with a supposedly easy victory at hand.

Yet it took an entire half before the game really looked that way.

With just a 9-point halftime lead, the South County Stallions girls varsity basketball team put together a dominant third quarter, holding the West Potomac Wolverines to just three points en route to a 60-32 victory Tuesday night.

“That’s the thing about tournament time,” said Stallions coach Chrissy Kelly. “They’re not here to lay down and let you walk all over them. They’re here to win. They worked very hard on both ends of the floor, and we ended up having to wake up during halftime to understand that.”

South County (17-5, 12-2 Patriot) came out of halftime with reckless abandon, attacking the Wolverines from all over the court for their fifth consecutive victory.

“We tried to move the ball as much as possible [in the second half],” said Stallions senior guard Caitlyn McLaughlin, who scored a team-high 12 points and hit all three of her 3-pointers in the third quarter. “We tried to create off the dribble, take them one-on-one, and surprise them with 3-pointers and layups.”

These aggressive tactics proved too much for the Wolverines (3-16, 3-12 Patriot), who were outscored 22-3 in the third quarter.

“The difference in the second half was that South County came out more aggressive and physical, and my team shied away from it,” Wolverines coach Terry Newton said.  

 The Wolverines were actually the aggressors in the first half, attacking the basket and often getting to the free-throw line to keep the game close. But the game opened up in the second half for the home team, and the Stallions were able to come out with enough energy to put the game away.

“Since our offense was so energized, it created a lot of defensive stops and got us more energetic defensively,” McLaughlin said. “When we play defense, we do good on offense, and it kept the game balanced for us.”

West Potomac has had difficulties staying competitive in the second half of games all season. They lack the toughness needed to match against the top teams in their division.

“In any game we’ve lost, we played well in the first half,” Newton said. “But when they come out [in the second half], team’s make adjustments and get more physical, but my team is just not used to it. While other teams match physical with physical, we’re more of a finesse ballclub.”

Despite their typical finesse style of play, West Potomac’s forceful start to the game against the second-seeded Stallions worried South County’s coach early.

“I think they played really hard and were the physical team in the first half,” Kelly said. “We had to come out and match them in the second half. The most important thing about tournament time is that there’s no guarantee’s. You have to go out there and earn it – and they definitely made us earn it.”