The Madison Warhawks girls and boys varsity basketball teams have enjoyed significant success in recent years, and each opened its 2024-25 campaign with victories.
The host girls defeated Riverside of Leesburg, 40-23, and the boys traveled to Haymarket and rallied to down the Battlefield Bobcats, 68-55, after trailing 36-29 at halftime.
For the Madison girls, Ava Wu made seven three-pointers and scored 25 points to lead the way, adding three assists and two steals.
Allison Creighton scored six and had as many rebounds; Riley Brick had eight rebounds, three assists and two points; Jada Ramos-Diggs had three points, four rebounds and four steals; and Bella Lozier had three points, three assists and five boards.
Madison led just 21-18 at halftime, then outscored Riverside 19-5 in the second half.
The Madison boys also had a big second half, outscoring Battlefield 39-19 in the final two quarters.
Madison took the lead for good at 45-43 with 2:23 left in the third period when Mason Burger (17 points) made a three-pointer from the left side off a pass from Michael Dinkelacker (11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists). The Warhawks led 49-45 at the end of three periods, then pulled away in the final quarter.
Burger, Dinkelacker, Hobbes Fiel, Ryan Furlong, Colin Mahoney and William Chappell are top returners from last season’s team that finished 15-13 and second in the Concorde District and 6D North Region tournaments to qualify for the Virginia High School League Class 6 state tourney.
Furlong scored 18 against Battlefield to go with seven rebounds, and Fiel made multiple three-pointers. Madison shot 55 percent from the floor in the win.
“We were a lot better in the second half,” Madison coach Kevin Roller said. “We made a lot of mental mistakes on defense in the first half.”
The girls and boys high-school basketball seasons are now underway for all varsity teams of Fairfax County Schools. Games began Monday (Dec. 2) and continue with multiple contests each day through Saturday (Dec. 7) before resuming next week.
