Winchester Star article about Clarke County - John Marshall game
RICHMOND — With just 1:59 left in the first quarter, the scoreboard showed John Marshall with a nine-point lead, and for the third time, a Clarke County girls’ basketball player with at least two fouls next to her uniform number.
There was still plenty of basketball left to be played, and as the rest of the game showed, the Eagles were determined to make the most of it. But they just could never quite shake the difficulties created by those early fouls.
John Marshall led for the last 27 minutes and 34 seconds and finished with a 67-54 win in the Class 2 state semifinals on Friday at Huguenot High School. It’s the most points allowed by Clarke County (24-5) all season.
Yasmin Hall scored 28 points and Tiara Herron scored 25 for the Justices (14-9), who will play Central (Wise) — a 58-43 winner over Ridgeview in Friday’s other semifinal — on Thursday in the Class 2 title game at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. It will be a rematch of last year’s title game won by Central.
The Eagles are the only team to beat Central in state competition since the 2021-22 season, doing so in the 2023 title game. They seemed to be on course to play Central again with 15 straight wins by double-digits heading into Friday, but John Marshall’s offensive execution and ability to draw fouls was too much for Clarke County to overcome.
After taking a 15-7 lead after one quarter (Hall had 11 points in the period), the Justices made 17 of 33 field goal attempts over the last three quarters, including 5 of 14 3-pointers. For the game, the Justices made six 3-pointers to the Eagles’ two (Haley Foltz hit both to account for her six total points).
And while John Marshall barely made 50 percent of its free-throw attempts, the Justices sure made a lot of free throws.
Clarke County was in foul trouble all game and was whistled for 31 fouls. John Marshall made 19 of its 36 attempts from the line while Clarke County made only 6 of 15 (the Justices committed 15 total fouls). John Marshall made 7 of 13 shots from the line in the fourth quarter, a period in which four Eagles fouled out and the Justices led by at least eight points throughout.
Clarke County head coach Regina Downing said the Eagles were never really able to play the way they wanted to because of their foul trouble.
“It took us out of our game,” Downing said. “We couldn’t do the things we need to do out of our matchup zone, so we had to switch up and go to a 2-3 zone, which we hadn’t really run all year. It took us out of our rhythm.”
Both teams had trouble with ball possession (Clarke County had 22 turnovers to John Marshall’s 21), but the Eagles might have been able to pressure the Justices into more if not for foul trouble. Eight of the turnovers the Eagles forced came in the first quarter.
“We just couldn’t get anything going like we normally do,” Clarke County junior Alainah McKavish said. “We normally get stuff from our defense, and we didn’t get too much tonight.”
McKavish (team-high 18 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals) sat for the rest of the first quarter after picking up her third foul with 3:07 left and the Eagles trailing 9-4.
McKavish would return for the start of the second quarter and stay in until fouling out with 28 seconds left in the game, but she spent a lot of time playing without her fellow starters.
Paige Stemberger (10 points, two steals) sat for the rest of the first half after picking up her third foul with 7:21 left in the second quarter. Devin Simmons-McDonald picked up her third foul with 4:32 left in the second quarter and sat the rest of the half, which ended with the Eagles trailing 30-24.
Clarke County was able to use its normal playing rotation for much of the second half, but the Eagles had to llmit their aggressiveness somewhat to do that. Paige McKavish (five points, three assists) saw her situation become precarious as well when she picked up her fourth foul with 1:33 left in the third quarter.
“We had to play straight up,” Simmons-McDonald said. “We couldn’t reach or anything. If we touched them, it was a foul the whole game.”
With 8.5 seconds left in the third quarter, Herron ran the length of the floor after a steal and was fouled while going up for a shot on the other end. She made both free throws to close John Marshall’s 12-2 run over the last 3:29 of the third quarter, which gave the Justices a 50-36 lead.
Clarke County did find some success in the fourth quarter, with Stemberger scoring two baskets and Alainah McKavish scoring one as part of a 6-2 run that made it 54-46 John Marshall with 4:13 left. But the Eagles — who began playing man defense in the fourth quarter — would get no closer.
“We cut their lead down, and the next thing you knew we were in foul trouble again,” said Downing, who wished the Eagles hadn’t waited until the fourth quarter to play man.
Paige McKavish fouled out with with 5:05 left, then Stemberger fouled out with 4:01 left. John Marshall would then draw six fouls in the last 2:26 of the game, with Herron hitting a free throw to finish a 3-point play following Simmons-McDonald’s fifth foul on her drive down the middle of the lane with 2:03 left. That made it 60-48 with 2:03 left, and the game was never in single digits again.
“We did a goob job of controlling the pace of the game,” John Marshall coach Virgil Burton said. “I’m proud of the team.”
Clarke County was wary of John Marshall’s 3-point shooting coming into the game, and the Justices showed why. In the third quarter, Herron hit a 3-pointer that made it 45-34, and Hall hit one that made it 48-36. But the Justices also did well to punish the Eagles with their passing and drives.
“I felt they like were going to shoot the 3 a lot more, but they attacked us on the defensive end,” Downing said. “We gave up a lot of backdoors [passes that produced points].”
The Eagles shot well over the last three quarters (20 for 35), but their turnover problems and struggles from the free-throw line hurt them.
“We sped ourselves up and couldn’t identify what we doing on the offensive end,” Downing said.
Though the Eagles came up short of the ultimate goal, it was a season to remember.
Two years ago, Clarke County went 25-5, capturing the state and region titles and the district regular-season title. The Eagles lost four seniors from last year’s 17-9 region semifinalist squad, and this year featured only Alainah McKavish and Simmons-McDonald from the state championship team.
But after working in six new players, the Eagles were just one win short of a return trip to VCU after sharing the district regular-season title and winning the district and region tounaments. Stemberger and Eryn Demko (six points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals Friday) each transferred to Clarke this year.
“We had a great season,” McKavish said. “I’m just proud of everyone. We made it so far. We fought through a lot together.”
Downing said she told her players to keep their heads up for what they accomplished this year.
“We believed in ourselves and we knew we capable of being here,” Downing said. “We felt like we could get to the state tournament and win the state tournament. Overall, it was an awesome season. They stayed in here, they fought, and did the things we asked them to do. I’m proud of them.”
Downing will miss her two seniors, Simmons-McDonald (four points, four rebounds) and Caydence Roberts (three points, two assists, two steals).
“Those kids have been around our program for four, five years,” she said. “I’m really going to miss those two kids. They brought some leadership to us and a lot of upside to us. Just great young ladies.”
Simmons-McDonald also felt this year was great, and she wishes the team the best of luck in the future. It meant a lot to her to play at Clarke County.
“We all grow up at Clarke County,” said Simmons-McDonald as she talked through tears. “When I was little, I went to the camps, and as you get older, you dream of playing for that team. It really mattered that I got to.”
