Loudoun County Girls Beat Dominion

By Scott Den Herder

Saturday, January 5, 2008

The Loudoun County Raiders extended their winning streak Friday night, led by a career-high performance from Samantha Akers.

The team's success will be tested in a critical district game against Broad Run on Tuesday. Both teams are undefeated in the league.

Akers led Loudoun County's offense with 25 points. She added seven assists, six rebounds and four steals to help the Raiders (9-2, 3-0) clinch their seventh-straight win with a 72-49 victory over the Dominion Titans on Friday night.

Loudoun County Coach Kevin Reed gave a lot of credit for the win to the progress Akers has made this year. For the past three seasons she focused on scoring, but this year she's playing better defensively and more intelligently, he said.

"Samantha means everything to our basketball team this year," he said. "It's a major key on your basketball team if you can look out there and you know you got her and a few other girls that understand."

She had plenty of help on offense. Kendra Holmes scored 10 points, Jasmine Hughes contributed 10 points and freshman prodigy Brittany Batts added another 12.

The team's offensive success is a change from its early season performance. The Raiders lost two of their first four games and averaged 41 points. But since then, they've gone on an impressive winning streak, averaging almost 70 points per game. Batts' ability to put points on the board has played a major role in the improved offense, said Reed, who has coached Loudoun County for the past six years.

"I've had a few freshman start for me. There have been a lot of good freshmen. But Brittany Batts is the best scorer I've seen in six years in the district," he said.

The Titans kept within striking distance for most of the game. At halftime, they were only down by two points. In the fourth quarter, however, the Raiders pulled ahead, outscoring the Titans 22-8.

The efforts by Hughes, Amy Williams and Kerry Sarver were just as important to the victory. Sarver made eight steals and had seven assists. Hughes and Williams led the team with eight rebounds each.

"We've been handling ourselves pretty well on the boards despite having a lack of height," he said. "Rebounding is not always about height. It's about effort and being in a position to make those plays."

The Raiders have one of the smallest lineups in the league, with no players over 5 feet, 10 inches.

Dominion's offense was led by Diondra Fryer, who scored 14 points, and Tiffany Jones, who contributed 12 points.

The Titans fell to 0-3 in district play and 3-8 overall. They will host Park View on Tuesday.

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