Girls Basketball: Cougars Start District Play With Win

Though the Herndon Hornets found a way to keep the undefeated Oakton Cougars within seven points at the end of three periods, the Cougars surged in the fourth to win 61-39.

The Cougars may have been able to dominate opponents through most of December, but they knew they'd have to step up their game with the start of Concorde District competition.

Heading into Friday's game, Concorde teams had a combined record of 52-16 and defeated opponents by an average of 20.82 points.

"We start of the seasons seemingly handling teams, but the truth is it gets tough for us when we play district games. The Concorde District is tough," said Fred Priester, head coach of the Cougars.

The Hornets put up a fight from the start, scoring within the first minute of the game and keeping the Cougars scoreless for two minutes.

The lead changed hands three times until the Cougars took the lead for good with two minutes left in the first period with a Caroline Coyer 3-pointer. Two foul shots from Coyer and a layup from Elizabeth Manner put the score at 13-8 to end the first period.

Coyer and Manner would have a total of 13 and 15 points, respectively. Katherine Coyer led the team with 19 points.

The offense for both teams picked up in the second period to enter halftime with the Cougars on top 31-24.

But the Hornets came back for the second half motivated, holding the Cougars to a single-digit third period and cutting their deficit to seven points.

The Cougars found their groove in the fourth period — as did Katherine Coyer, who scored the majority of her game-leading points that period — to surge ahead to a more familiar lead in the double-digits to win 61-39.

"We just exploded there in the fourth quarter, and that's the kind of explosiveness we can have when we're moving the ball and not being tentative," Priester said. "I just thought we played real tentative in the beginning, but we recovered."

Caroline Coyer said tonight's game is proof the Concorde District is going to be tough, but the Cougars are ready.

"I think it kind of sends the message that it doesn't matter what you bring at us, what kind of defense, we have different things we can pull out at any moment that are going to give us the edge," she said.

The Cougars will host the Chantilly Chargers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Cougar Point Scorers: Katherine Coyer (19), Elizabeth Manner (15), Caroline Coyer (13), Torri Marquis (8), Karlie Cronin (4), Angela Sickels (2)

Coyer Reaches Milestone in Career Assists

Despite their struggles in the third period, the Cougars can look fondly on those eight minutes for one reason: Caroline Coyer surpassed 500 career assists, the second person to achieve the feat in school history, and sixth-ever in the state.

"It's cool. I'm more excited about the win because we were struggling there for a while, but it is really exciting," said Coyer, who has committed to play at Villanova University next year.

Priester gushed about Coyer's achievement, noting a high number of assists combined with a point total nearing 1,500 says much about how she plays.

"It means she's just as willing to pass the ball as shoot the ball," Priester said. "She makes some really high-quality assists. And she doesn't get frustrated, she'll still throw the ball to anybody even if they've missed some shots earlier in the game."

Coyer now sits at 502 assists, two below the only other Oakton player to hit 500, Washington Mystics' Jasmine Thomas. Coyer is not only likely to surpass Thomas in the Cougars' next game, but likely to sit at No. 2 in the state by the end of the season. The Virginia record for career assists is 736. Jackie Freeman, 1991 James Madison High grad, currently holds the second spot with 531.