Eagles extend reign in district

The other eight members of the Colonial District are having a tough time beating the Mills Godwin girls basketball team.

The Eagles, ranked No. 3 in The Times-Dispatch Top 10 and the Central Region runners-up the past two seasons, have won 28 consecutive games against Colonial foes spanning last year and this. They have lost just once, to Deep Run, in 2½ seasons.

An improved Patrick Henry team featuring the district's top scorer, Taylor Huber, gave it a go last night at PH, where the Patriots usually play well.

No luck, though. Mills Godwin won 70-34.

What's it going to take to beat the Eagles (10-0, 15-1) whose loss came against West Springfield in the final of a holiday tournament in Northern Virginia?

"It's going to take an awesome defensive effort, which we didn't do tonight," Patrick Henry coach Leslie Nuckols said. "It's going to take an awesome rebounding game, which we didn't do tonight. It's hard to know what to do defensively. All five starters can score at any time. You can't play a zone against them, but they are so patient with their man offense, they are hard to stop."

The Eagles can shoot and are thriving, much as men's college power Duke is, with a perimeter offense and aggressive defense.

"We spend 20 to 30 minutes every practice just shooting," coach Mark Seidenberg said. "All the starters have the green light on 3-pointers. We encourage them to shoot it. It allows us to spread [opponents] out. When we shoot well and play good defense, we're a really good team."

Andrea Sisson paced the Eagles with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Michelle Foley contributed 17. They combined to score all 19 of the Eagles' points in the second quarter and 11 of the first 13 in the third quarter.

The Eagles started slowly, but guard Sallie Foster kept pushing the ball up the floor.

"With five shooters on the floor, I know there are two or three ahead of me," Foster said. "We run, and it's a matter of finding the open person. No one's selfish on this team."

In addition to running the offense, Foster plays defense on the opposition's highest scoring guard. She shut down Deep Run's Amy Turner earlier this season. Last night, Foster was on Huber, who hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Patriots a 7-2 lead, but Huber took, and forced, a lot of shots to finish with 13 points. Second-leading scorer Katie Anderson had just two points from the foul line.

The Patriots (7-4, 8-5) also are without point guard Jasmine Smith, out for the season with a torn ACL.

"We need to win out in the district. It's do-able if the girls regroup," Nuckols said. "They need to keep their confidence up."

MILLS GODWIN (10-0 Colonial, 15-1)

Geoghegan 4, Henshaw 2, Cole 9, Foley 17, Nichols 6, Teague 2, Foster 3, Watkins 8, Sisson 19. Totals 24 17-21 70.

PATRICK HENRY (7-4, 8-5)

Huber 13, Willis 3, Anderson 2, Freeman 0, Schmitt 4, Kenney 6, Winston 4, Morton 0, Brim 2. Totals 12 8-17 34.

Mills Godwin ------------------------- 14 19 24 13 -- 70

Patrick Henry ------------------------- 7 11 5 11 -- 34

3-point goals: MG -- Sisson 5. PH Huber 2.