Fans of the Massaponax High School boys and girls basketball teams will be busy keeping pace with lots of action Tuesday night.
The two squads represent half of the four Fredericksburg-area high school basketball teams still in the hunt for state championship gold as the calendar flips to March.
The Panther boys defeated visiting Stone Bridge 68-64 to win the Region 5D title last Thursday. It’s the first regional championship in program history and sets the stage for the Panthers (21-6) to host James River-Midlothian (19-3) in the Class 5 quarterfinals Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
While the Massaponax girls dropped their regional final in a hard-fought 53-50 defeat to Stone Bridge last week, the Panthers (17-8) still move on to states, where they’ll visit William Fleming (21-4) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. They defeated Lightridge 68-64 in the region semifinals to clinch the state bid.
The Massaponax boys are on an impressive run since suffering a three-game losing streak in late December. The Panthers have gone 16-2 since the start of the new year, which includes their current nine-game winning streak.
The play of senior guard Collin Bowles has been integral to Massaponax’s success. Bowles eclipsed the 1,000-point career scoring mark earlier this season, and is now the school’s all-time leading scorer. He and fellow seniors Tre’ Bowler and Christian Hooks have paced the Panthers. Bowles and Bowler were both first-team all-Commonwealth District selections, while Hooks made the second team.
Additionally, Massaponax second-year head coach Aaron McFarland, a former standout player for the Panthers and Christopher Newport University, earned district coach of the year honors.
On the girls side, freshman Angel Scruggs has buoyed Massaponax’s state tournament run by averaging 21.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.8 steals and 3.8 assists per contest this winter.
Battlefield District
In the Battlefield District, the Courtland boys and James Monroe girls are both headed to the state tournament.
While Courtland (17-9) fell 48-36 at Varina in the Region 4B title game last Friday, the Cougars had already punched their ticket to the Class 4 state tourney by virtue of defeating defending state champ Atlee 58-40 in the regional semifinals last Wednesday.
Courtland will visit Region 4A champion Hampton (24-1) in the state quarterfinals at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Cougars are paced by senior guard Kevin Bautista, who averages 12.1 points per outing.
James Monroe’s girls came up just short of a second consecutive Region 3B championship, falling 66-61 to visiting Skyline in last Thursday’s title tilt. But the Yellow Jackets’ 56-51 win at Brentsville last Tuesday qualified them for the state tournament.
JM (20-5) will travel to Region 3A champion Hopewell (16-5) for a 7 p.m. state quarterfinal clash on Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets ended the Blue Devils’ season a year ago with a 94-70 state quarterfinal victory.
Seniors Harmony Jones and Laila Taylor and junior Jaylah Black have all been instrumental in JM’s success, but Black is out for the remainder of the season after suffering a leg injury in the Yellow Jackets’ Battlefield District championship game victory over Culpeper. All three were named first-team all-district when it was announced last week.
