Overton girls win AAA city title; Manassas girls take AA crown

from CommercialAppeal.com

Defense wins championships.

It's one of the oldest clichés in sports, but Overton's belief in that old adage was the primary reason the Lady Wolverines beat White Station Friday night, 42-36, at Wooddale High School to claim the AAA MIAA City Championship.

"That's the main thing we do ... defense," Overton junior guard Cornelia Fondren said. "Everything we do begins with defense. That's all we do."

Overton's stingy defense was on full display in the first half, holding White Station to just three field goals to take a 25-12 lead into halftime.

White Station (25-4) began the third quarter on an 11-0 run to trim the lead to two points with 4:09 left in the period. Lady Spartan senior Brianna Ridgell scored six points in the run and White Station appeared poised to make the game close down the stretch.

But Overton (24-5) clamped down again. Thanks to the play of Fondren and junior Jasmine Stafford, the lead was 10 points again when the fourth quarter started, and White Station never got closer than five the rest of the way.

With 35 seconds left and Overton leading 39-34, a 3-pointer by White Station senior Durriya Shields missed its mark and the Lady Wolverines made 3-of-4 free throws to seal the win.

"This feels great because this a whole different team," said Stafford, who was named the game's MVP after scoring 13 points. "We showed everybody that we can do it. For a team that lost six seniors, we're doing pretty good."

Fondren also scored 13 for Overton. Ridgell led White Station with 14 points and senior Ashley Small added nine.

White Station defeated Overton 52-45 on Dec. 7.

"We played terrible," White Station coach Daryl Durham said. "A lot of the credit goes to Overton though. We didn't attack. We played passive. Hopefully it will be motivation. Hopefully they will regroup and play hard in the district Monday."

Overton head coach Robert Woods led his team to the state semifinals last year, but didn't win a city title.

"They always wanted one," Woods said. "This group has been there three times. They gutted it out tonight, but we lost a little focus in the third quarter."

In the AA title game, Manassas (22-6) defeated Fairley, 56-53. Manassas senior Tiffany Jones, who was named the game's MVP, led the Lady Tigers with 13 points. Fairley senior Marcquasha Evers led the Lady Bulldogs (19-8) with 19.

Fairley senior Brandi James missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left.