Eagles, Raiders Savor State Titles

Freedom and Loudoun Co. Are Class of AA Girls' Hoops

By Paul Tenorio

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Before Saturday, no basketball team in all of Loudoun County - boys' or girls' - had claimed a state championship.

That changed as No. 9 Freedom and No. 19 Loudoun County raised trophies on the court at Siegel Center in Richmond, making history by claiming the Virginia AA Division 3 and Division 4 girls' titles.

But although both teams returned from Richmond as champions, the two programs took much different paths to their titles.

With a commanding victory over Robert E. Lee-Staunton, Freedom capped a season in which it lost only to a pair of AAA teams by a combined five points and completed a turnaround from a program that won just one game in 2005-06.

Freedom Coach Jason Eldredge said it had not yet hit him how far the team had come since that inaugural season of his. And senior guard Meixandra Porter spoke of how the team had come together in three years.

Porter did not want to attend Freedom when she moved into the area, she said, but was persuaded by her mother to go and help build a program.

"A lot of people have the goal of wanting to win a state championship, but not a lot of people make it," Porter said. "And I think the fact that we did proves that we did whatever we put our minds to. . . . And I think that shows who we are as a team and as a group of individuals."

Loudoun County, meanwhile, went to the state semifinals in 2005-06 and has been one of the area's top teams in recent years. And the Raiders' 16-point win over Turner Ashby in the championship ended not just a romp through the Division 4 playoffs - their average margin of victory in three state tournament games was 29 points - but also a journey of "almosts" for a program that had high expectations before but had never taken home the top prize.

Coach Kevin Reed acknowledged the satisfaction of finally putting a state championship banner in the Loudoun County gym, especially after difficult losses the past two seasons. And he said he hoped the championship was shared with members of those teams, who helped build the foundation for this year's title.

"Winning the state championship was awesome for the program, awesome for our kids this year," Reed said. "And in the stands were [2008 graduates] Jasmine Hughes, Samantha Akers and Amy Williams. And I do feel us winning this title means something to them as well. Because I was able to look up at them and shake my head and let them know that this title was about them as well."

And although the Raiders and the Eagles have not had the friendliest of rivalries (they met four times this season, with Freedom winning all four contests), members of both programs could agree on one thing: The other's success spoke positively about their teams and the county as a whole.

In the news conference after Loudoun County's win Saturday night, Reed spoke about Freedom's win and said, "The best basketball in double-A is played up in our place."

Eldredge reiterated those thoughts this week.

"I think if you have two state champions, two region champions from the same district, you are the best district," he said. "I think that's what that says."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks