The Langley High School girls basketball team won its second-ever region title and first since 2017 by defeating the Oakton Cougars Friday night (Feb. 28) in a championship game at Wakefield High School.
The Saxons (24-3) won the game and the 6D North Region title with a 54-37 victory. Oakton fell to 23-5 for the season, but both teams move on to the state tournament, which opens this week.
At the start of the season, longtime Langley coach Amanda Baker believed the Saxons had the potential to do well in the postseason this winter.
“I thought this team could be one of the best we’ve ever had,” Baker told FFXnow. “Our players are so focused, have good chemistry. They play good defense and they do not panic in games.”
In the region final, Oakton took a 2-0 lead. Then Langley took control and led 21-5 at the end of the first quarter behind the early hot shooting of senior guard and leading scorer Anya Rahman.
Rahman made three three-pointers and scored 11 points in the first period, finished with 19, four rebounds and three steals. She made two more threes in the second quarter, giving her five for the game, and hit her first seven shots overall.
“We did what we have been doing for a while in this game by keeping things simple and sticking to our game plan,” said Rahman, who has scored more than 1,000 career high-school points and will play basketball at Carnegie Mellon University. “We trust each other, and this team has good chemistry.”
The Saxons stayed comfortably ahead the rest of the way, leading 34-10 at halftime and 43-27 after three periods for their 16th straight win.
Langley freshman Alice Allen (two three-pointers) scored 15 points in the region final with three rebounds. Junior Maddie Shamloo (five assists) and freshman Mariah Armah (four rebounds) each scored seven, and senior forward Peyton Daley had six points, five rebounds and two assists.
“We played defense really well tonight,” Baker said.
Oakton, which had a six-game winning streak snapped, had 13 first-half turnovers, struggling to get into an offense rhythm.
For Oakton, forward Jocelynn Kinlaw had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Brooke Chang scored 12 with three rebounds for the Cougars.
Sophie Toole had eight points and three assists, and Bailey Zimmerman made two three-pointers and scored six with two blocks, two steals and three rebounds.
The 37 points were a single-game season low for Oakton.
Langley was 3-0 in the region tourney, defeating the Madison Warhawks, 61-44 in the first round, then the defending champion Centreville Wildcats, 54-47, in the semifinals.
Against Madison, Allen had 20 points and two steals; Rahman made three three-pointers and scored 17; Daley had 11 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks; Armah had 11 points, six boards and five steals; and Shamloo had five assists.
In the semifinal win over Centreville, Armah scored 20 with three steals; Allen scored 15 with four rebounds and two steals; Rahman scored nine and had three steals; and Daley had two points and seven rebounds.
Baker said freshmen Allen and Armah have made Langley’s offense more potent and balanced this season, with Rahman not having to score as much and not drawing all of the attention of opponents’ defenses.
Oakton was 2-1 in the region tournament, rallying for each of its victories. The Cougars defeated the Yorktown Patriots 49-43 in the first round and then nipped the Chantilly Chargers 38-37 in the semifinals, when Kinlaw made two free throws with two seconds left to play.
Prior to the region competition, Oakton won the Concorde District tournament, its 21st district crown. The Saxons won the Liberty District tournament.
Oakton (23-5) has now finished second in the region for three straight seasons, last winning the crown — its seventh — in 2016.
