It faced an opponent that was both bigger and faster, leaving Oakton’s girls basketball team with an uncomfortably small margin of error.
Even after Hampton blistered the nets for six 3-pointers in the first half the Cougars still had it in them to rally from 12 points down in the second half of Wednesday’s Group AAA state semifinal. They just didn’t have enough energy left to finish off the comeback.
The result for No. 3 Oakton was a season-ending 55-44 loss to the Crabbers at the Siegel Center.
“This has been an amazing run for all of us,” said Oakton senior forward Ashley Abed, who finished her career with seven points and seven rebounds. “But we wanted even more. It just didn’t work out for us today.”
The game also marked the end for Oakton senior guard Jasmine Thomas, a Duke recruit and four-time Northern Region player of the year. The Cougars were 101-11 with Thomas over the last four seasons. She finished with 2,598 career points, second-most in Virginia High School League history, and added 22 points with nine rebounds and four steals in her final game.
Oakton, the Northern Region runner-up, finished 27-3. Hampton (29-2), which started four sophomores, advanced to Saturday’s championship game vs. No. 1 Edison (30-1).
The key figure for Hampton was sophomore Kelley London, who connected on 4-of-8 three-point attempts and finished with 14 points. She entered the game averaging just 6.8 points per game, but needed to score since Oakton focused its defense on Hampton forwards Evelyn Lewis and Alyssa Bennett, holding that duo to eight points combined.
