Basketball: Banner Year for Freedom Girls Ends in State Title

Richmond (Mar. 14, 2009) – If only the Freedom High School girls basketball team had a good story to tell.

Like perhaps being the first team in Loudoun hoops history — boys or girls — to win a Virginia High School League state title. Or maybe being the first team in school history to win a district title, district tournament title, regional title and state title — in any sport — all in the same dream season.

Or if they had a team that went from 1-21 four years ago to 28-2 this season and maybe had a senior, say Liz Turpin, the only player left from those dark days who was on the court at the end Saturday as the Eagles clinched the VHSL Division 3 state title.

Or maybe if they had a player, like 6-foot-3 Kelsey Buchanan, who scored at the very end of the 58-33 blowout win over R.E. Lee, to secure a triple-double that included 21 rebounds and a state record 10 blocked shots. Or if they had a player like sophomore Dionna Scott, a player on a mission on the postseason after being left off the All-Dulles District first team, who not only scores a game-high 24 points but had 12 points during an 18-0 Eagle run that opened a 22-4 commanding lead in the game.

Or if Freedom had a senior point guard like Meixandra Porter, who when she came to Freedom as a sophomore, signaled the program’s turnaround.

Of if you had a team that had suffered heartache last year, falling twice in the final seconds in postseason, only to come back this season determined to not be denied.

And finally, if you had a team, that dedicated its season to the memory of a popular teacher and coach in South Riding, Eric Olsen, who was a mentor, a lacrosse and cross country coach, and a friend to many in the basketball program.

Any of those would be great stories to tell … and fortunately for Loudoun fans this season, the Eagles had all those stories to tell and Saturday at VCU’s Siegel Center was the happy ending as the Eagles rolled past R.E. Lee to win the state title.

“100-percent, 100-percent of the time,” said Freedom coach Jason Eldredge, describing the motto that Olsen live his life by before losing his battle to cancer earlier this year. “We dedicate this state trophy to Eric Olsen, our fallen brother.”

The Eagles used that as their motto and Saturday it was 100-percent from tip-off and a young Lee team, with three freshmen and a sophomore in the starting line-up and no seniors on the roster, could not keep up.

Eldredge said he knew the Eagles were going to win Saturday when their not only was silence in the hallways at his 11:30 p.m. bed check Friday night but also silence on the bus ride to the Siegel Center, a first for the Eagles.

“It was just our time,” said Eldredge.

Buchanan controlled the paint and was a big reason that Lee shot 13-for-67 in the game.

“We certainly picked the wrong night to have our worst shooting night of the year,” said Lee coach Jeremy Hartman.

Freedom Athletic Director Rusty Lowery stood proudly as his team celebrated the historic win and the Eagles student section and parents cheered wildly.

“The students played a big part of our success all year long,” said Lowery.

Scott came into the contest having suffered through illness in the regional finals and then foul trouble in the state quarterfinals so Lee concentrated on stopping Buchanan inside and containing Porter. That left Scott open to slash her way to the basket and she did, making 9-of-15 from the field and she had a dozen points during a run that took a 4-4 contest to a 22-4 Freedom lead 46 seconds into the second quarter. Lee went 6:44 between field goals, almost a full quarter as Freedom whipped their fans into a frenzy.

Leading by 21 at the half, 37-16, Lee never got closer than 22 points behind in the second half as Porter opened the third quarter with a jumper.

Buchanan, Porter and Scott combined for all but five points in the game for Freedom.

Porter scored 18 with five assists. And she said after that it was tehe culmination of work, sweat and tears.

Angela Mickens led Lee with 15 points and Daquaa Scott had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

And there was Turpin on the floor at the end … a long way from the days when Freedom fell 75-5 in one game … and it was a story that Elredge hopes that his players and others will tell their children 20 years from now.

“I hope their children will read about this team,” said Eldredge.

They will as this team certainly had quite a story to tell and they told it well.