Bull Run District
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Eagles beat Mason to claim tourney title
Victory checks off longtime goal for Clarke
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE - Clarke County seniors Sydney Chrane and Anna Blue Catlett were both back in elementary school the last time the Eagles swept both the Bull Run District regular season and tournament titles.
The two Clarke standouts watched a lot of those games back then because Chrane's older sister Sarah played on the Eag l e s' 2007 state championship team.
So shooting for some of the goals that Clarke's '07 team reached was always part of the plan but George Mason owned the district for the majority of the past eight years.
In Thursday night's Bull Run District Tournament championship, Catlett and Chrane helped the Eagles cap an unbeaten district season by scoring 18 and 12 points, respectively, to lead Clarke County to a 62-46 girls' basketball victory over the Mustangs.
"It's really exciting because we came in following Sydney's sister and we've always looked up to [ that team] and wanted to follow in their footsteps," said Catlett, who added six rebounds and earned first team All- Bull Run District honors. "As a team it's really exciting because it's been our goal." The Eagles (24-1) received the Bull Run District regular season and tournament trophies following the game and then had another surprise when Denver Nuggets rookie and former Millbrook standout Erick Green spoke to Clarke's players during
See Eagles, Page C2[/URL]
Clarke senior Sydney Chrane scored 12 points in the Eagles' 62-46 win over George Mason.
GINGER PERRY/ The Winchester Star
Article Continued BelowSee EAGLES on Page C02[/URL]
Eagles
from Page C1
their postgame meeting in the locker room.
"He just told us how important this [moment] is and to just cherish it," said Catlett, who went 7 for 12 from the field, including three 3-pointers.
The Mustangs (16-6) - who won state titles in 2009, '10 and '12 - dealt Clarke four of its seven losses, including the district and regional title games, in 2013 when the Eagles' five seniors were sophomores. Mason also beat Clarke in the 2011 district final and in the semifinal round in 2010.
Snow cancelled last year's tournament title game so Chrane said it was a relief for her team to finally achieve one of its longtime goals.
" It's a weight off our should e rs , " said Chrane, who was named the Bull Run District Player of the Year following the game. " We ' ve worked really hard as a team and we're all so close and we wanted it for each other."
C la rk e's biggest task against Mason turned out to be playing through foul trouble late in the second half.
The Eagles led by as many as 20 midway through the third quarter but four seniors - Allie Hicks, Chrane, Catlett and Mackenzie Kibler - had four fouls apiece after Mason senior Katherine Goodwin's three-point play cut the Eagles' lead to 54-43 with 4:05 left in the fourth quart er.
Chrane, who picked up her four th foul at the 7: 26 mark, checked back in and grabbed a key defensive rebound following a missed 3-point attempt by Maso n's Haley Zullo with just over three minutes to go.
From there, Clarke County sophomore Jade Payton ( eight points) went 4 for 4 from the freethrow line, Catlett hit the second of two free throws, and junior Hannah Ravenscroft's three-point play pushed the Eagles' lead back to 62-45 to cap an 8-2 run to seal the victory.
None of Clarke's players fouled out and Eagles coach Regina Downing was pleased with how her team handled that advers ity.
"We have a tendency [to take some fouls] because we're so aggressive on defense and even though we kind of got in foul trouble we've been working on moving our feet to stop putting our hands in," said Downing, whose team will be the No. 1 seed for next week's Conference 35 Tournament. "The kids really battled with foul trouble and started doing the little things we needed to do."
The Eagles' aggressive defense set the tone from the start as Clarke's full- cour t press caused 10 first-quarter turnovers by Mason, helping Clarke jump out to a 16-8 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Catlett provided all the offense Clarke needed in the second, scoring eight straight points, including back-to-back threes that pushed the Eagles' lead to 14.
Goodwin, who scored a gamehigh 20 points (and was the lone Mason player in double figures), helped the Mustangs cut the deficit to nine with a three-point play and Isabella Ashton followed with two free throws to trim C la rk e's lead to 24- 17 with 3: 53 left.
From there, Clarke closed the half on a 10-2 run, stretching its lead back to 15 after Ravenscroft banked in an eight-foot jumper to put the Eagles ahead 34-19 at the half.
Catlett ( 12) and Chrane ( 10) combined to outscore the Mustangs in the first half as Mason committed 17 turnovers.
" Th at's what hurt us - t hat first half," Mason coach LaBryan Thomas said. "When we're playing a good team with a deficit like that it's tough. We made a little run here and there but couldn't sustain it.
"We tried to go inside - that was our game plan - to get them in foul trouble and we did a good job, but we missed some free throws and ran out of gas."
Ravenscroft, who had 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and three assists, joined Chrane and Catlett with first team all- district honors. Senior Kolby Parrott earned second team alldistrict honors. Downing said Green - who is friends with Eagles assistant coach Tae Payton ( a former standout at Clarke) - delivered a nice message when he spoke to the team following the victory.
"That was a very inspirational speech he gave the kids about having the determination to win it al l, " Downing said. " The girls were very surprised and when he came in their eyes were so big and they were overwhelmed.
"Matter of fact, the whole season I've never seen a bunch of girls more focused [ than they were on Green] and I can't get them to focus that well on me," Downing added with a laugh.
The Eagles - who have won nine straight - have a bye in Monday's Conference 35 quarterfinal round and will host the winner of No. 4 Strasburg vs. No. 5 Luray in Tuesday night's semifinal round at 8 p. m. Tuesday night's first conference semifinal game starts at 6 p.m. at Clarke.
"Our mindset is to win conference and win states," Chrane said. " That's been our goal since the beginning of the year, especially for our five seniors because this is it for us. But going into conference we're going to take it gameby- game and keep battling for what we want."
- Contact Robert Stocks at r star.com Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1
Clarke senior Anna Blue Catlett didn't get the best of this exchange with the George Mason defense, but still managed to score a teamhigh 18 points in the Eagles' win Thursday.
GINGER PERRY/ The Winchester Star
Victory checks off longtime goal for Clarke
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE - Clarke County seniors Sydney Chrane and Anna Blue Catlett were both back in elementary school the last time the Eagles swept both the Bull Run District regular season and tournament titles.
The two Clarke standouts watched a lot of those games back then because Chrane's older sister Sarah played on the Eag l e s' 2007 state championship team.
So shooting for some of the goals that Clarke's '07 team reached was always part of the plan but George Mason owned the district for the majority of the past eight years.
In Thursday night's Bull Run District Tournament championship, Catlett and Chrane helped the Eagles cap an unbeaten district season by scoring 18 and 12 points, respectively, to lead Clarke County to a 62-46 girls' basketball victory over the Mustangs.
"It's really exciting because we came in following Sydney's sister and we've always looked up to [ that team] and wanted to follow in their footsteps," said Catlett, who added six rebounds and earned first team All- Bull Run District honors. "As a team it's really exciting because it's been our goal." The Eagles (24-1) received the Bull Run District regular season and tournament trophies following the game and then had another surprise when Denver Nuggets rookie and former Millbrook standout Erick Green spoke to Clarke's players during
See Eagles, Page C2[/URL]
Clarke senior Sydney Chrane scored 12 points in the Eagles' 62-46 win over George Mason.
GINGER PERRY/ The Winchester Star
Article Continued BelowSee EAGLES on Page C02[/URL]
Eagles
from Page C1
their postgame meeting in the locker room.
"He just told us how important this [moment] is and to just cherish it," said Catlett, who went 7 for 12 from the field, including three 3-pointers.
The Mustangs (16-6) - who won state titles in 2009, '10 and '12 - dealt Clarke four of its seven losses, including the district and regional title games, in 2013 when the Eagles' five seniors were sophomores. Mason also beat Clarke in the 2011 district final and in the semifinal round in 2010.
Snow cancelled last year's tournament title game so Chrane said it was a relief for her team to finally achieve one of its longtime goals.
" It's a weight off our should e rs , " said Chrane, who was named the Bull Run District Player of the Year following the game. " We ' ve worked really hard as a team and we're all so close and we wanted it for each other."
C la rk e's biggest task against Mason turned out to be playing through foul trouble late in the second half.
The Eagles led by as many as 20 midway through the third quarter but four seniors - Allie Hicks, Chrane, Catlett and Mackenzie Kibler - had four fouls apiece after Mason senior Katherine Goodwin's three-point play cut the Eagles' lead to 54-43 with 4:05 left in the fourth quart er.
Chrane, who picked up her four th foul at the 7: 26 mark, checked back in and grabbed a key defensive rebound following a missed 3-point attempt by Maso n's Haley Zullo with just over three minutes to go.
From there, Clarke County sophomore Jade Payton ( eight points) went 4 for 4 from the freethrow line, Catlett hit the second of two free throws, and junior Hannah Ravenscroft's three-point play pushed the Eagles' lead back to 62-45 to cap an 8-2 run to seal the victory.
None of Clarke's players fouled out and Eagles coach Regina Downing was pleased with how her team handled that advers ity.
"We have a tendency [to take some fouls] because we're so aggressive on defense and even though we kind of got in foul trouble we've been working on moving our feet to stop putting our hands in," said Downing, whose team will be the No. 1 seed for next week's Conference 35 Tournament. "The kids really battled with foul trouble and started doing the little things we needed to do."
The Eagles' aggressive defense set the tone from the start as Clarke's full- cour t press caused 10 first-quarter turnovers by Mason, helping Clarke jump out to a 16-8 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Catlett provided all the offense Clarke needed in the second, scoring eight straight points, including back-to-back threes that pushed the Eagles' lead to 14.
Goodwin, who scored a gamehigh 20 points (and was the lone Mason player in double figures), helped the Mustangs cut the deficit to nine with a three-point play and Isabella Ashton followed with two free throws to trim C la rk e's lead to 24- 17 with 3: 53 left.
From there, Clarke closed the half on a 10-2 run, stretching its lead back to 15 after Ravenscroft banked in an eight-foot jumper to put the Eagles ahead 34-19 at the half.
Catlett ( 12) and Chrane ( 10) combined to outscore the Mustangs in the first half as Mason committed 17 turnovers.
" Th at's what hurt us - t hat first half," Mason coach LaBryan Thomas said. "When we're playing a good team with a deficit like that it's tough. We made a little run here and there but couldn't sustain it.
"We tried to go inside - that was our game plan - to get them in foul trouble and we did a good job, but we missed some free throws and ran out of gas."
Ravenscroft, who had 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and three assists, joined Chrane and Catlett with first team all- district honors. Senior Kolby Parrott earned second team alldistrict honors. Downing said Green - who is friends with Eagles assistant coach Tae Payton ( a former standout at Clarke) - delivered a nice message when he spoke to the team following the victory.
"That was a very inspirational speech he gave the kids about having the determination to win it al l, " Downing said. " The girls were very surprised and when he came in their eyes were so big and they were overwhelmed.
"Matter of fact, the whole season I've never seen a bunch of girls more focused [ than they were on Green] and I can't get them to focus that well on me," Downing added with a laugh.
The Eagles - who have won nine straight - have a bye in Monday's Conference 35 quarterfinal round and will host the winner of No. 4 Strasburg vs. No. 5 Luray in Tuesday night's semifinal round at 8 p. m. Tuesday night's first conference semifinal game starts at 6 p.m. at Clarke.
"Our mindset is to win conference and win states," Chrane said. " That's been our goal since the beginning of the year, especially for our five seniors because this is it for us. But going into conference we're going to take it gameby- game and keep battling for what we want."
- Contact Robert Stocks at r star.com Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1
Clarke senior Anna Blue Catlett didn't get the best of this exchange with the George Mason defense, but still managed to score a teamhigh 18 points in the Eagles' win Thursday.
GINGER PERRY/ The Winchester Star
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