Meridian High School saw both its girls and boys take the floor once again on Friday night, each playing for a regional championship trophy while having already punched their tickets to the State Tournament. That said, both teams were facing quality opponents, and holding serve was going to be far from a cakewalk.
The girls tipped off first against Brentsville, a team they’d already beaten twice this year but barely escaped in their most recent matchup with a 61-56 win on the road on January 30th. This one figured ot be a defensive slugfest, as the scoring didn’t open until Nora Stufft hit a midrange shot two minutes into the game. Then Brentsville took the upper hand, scoring the next five and going ahead 12-6 after a quarter, a lead that expanded to 18-9 midway through the second. Things got a bit chippy with a series of foul stoppages late in the first half, and the visiting rival crowd made themselves heard loud and clear as Meridian cut into the deficit to trail by only four at the break.
The momentum was unable to carry over, though, and Brentsville took its biggest lead of the night at 30-21 late in the third. Chris Carrico’s girls were forced to play catch-up once again, and after a three-pointer put them behind 35-27 early in the fourth, they went on a much-needed 5-0 run to trail by three with a few minutes remaining. But at that point, the visitors decided they were done attempting any shots and forced Meridian into intentionally fouling, and as Brentsville executed at the line and avoided turning the ball over, it ended up being a 42-34 loss for the Mustangs.
For the boys, it was the Yellow Jackets of James Monroe in town, led by outstanding freshman Makel Minor. John Lyman hit a three to get things going, and Minor got into some early foul trouble to help give Jim Smith’s squad the early upper hand. After falling behind 6-5, the Mustangs led 15-12 after a quarter and then expanded that lead to five, but back-to-back threes by Monroe extinguished their momentum. It was a dogfight for the rest of the first half, which concluded with a four-point play by Minor to give Monroe the 29-26 lead at the intermission.
Meridian fell behind by double-digits early in the third, but refused to throw in the towel as the home team got back within 49-44 with a quarter to go. Daylen Martino did his best to put the team on his back, scoring a pair of late layups to help make it a one-point game after the Mustangs were down 57-51 in the final two minutes. But they couldn’t get a stop at the other end and Meridian’s game-tying three-point attempt was off the mark in the closing seconds, and after Monroe tacked on a few more at the foul line, it was a final tally of 63-56.
The understandably frustrated Smith was a man of few words after the game. “We just didn’t hit enough shots,” he summarized.
Martino had 22 in the valiant effort, while Minor had 27 for Monroe. Ellie Friesen’s 11 led the way for the girls, who will join the boys in taking their State Tournament hopes on the road next week. If there’s any solace in Friday night’s events, though, it’s that they proved playing on the road is far from a death sentence, and so now the Mustangs will have the opportunity to flip the script on their awaiting opponents.
