Foul Play: Sapp's Inside Work Keys Win

Standing in the back hallway between two gymnasiums as the freshman and junior varsity teams played early Tuesday evening, Loudoun Valley girls' basketball Coach Kevin Barr was fretting how his group would handle the inside presence of Broad Run sophomore center Chelsea McNamee when the varsity players got their turn.

As it turned out, he needn't have worried.

Junior center Jaimie Sapp got McNamee in foul trouble early and proved the most dominant inside presence in the Vikings' 49-42 home victory. Sapp scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

"Jaimie has always been a threat offensively," Barr said. "But tonight she was a real presence inside. We see this all the time in practice. But now in games, too, she's getting to the point where she's really pushing herself out there."

Sapp did her damage despite continuing to play limited minutes as she converts her body, as she describes it, from "volleyball shape" to "basketball shape."

"It takes me a while, I know, but I'm still getting there," said Sapp, a standout volleyball player who also battles asthma. "Volleyball is all about jumping; you don't have to sprint that much. But in basketball you have to be able to run non-stop, and that's hard for me."

Sapp had no trouble once the ball was in her hands, shooting 83 percent from the field.

"Jaimie and I have played together for so long that she knows if I drive the lane I'm looking for the assist first," said senior Jackie Lewis, who will play for Division II University of the Sciences in Philadelphia next season. "And I look for her, especially, because she always finishes strong."

Lewis (13 points) drove the lane and found Sapp wide open underneath the basket for a layup on back-to-back plays to end the third quarter. That sparked an 8-2 run for the Vikings and turned their four-point lead into a 36-26 advantage with 6 minutes 6 seconds to play.

Sapp scored all eight points for Loudoun Valley during that crucial stretch while McNamee, who picked up her fourth personal foul with just under three minutes left in the third quarter, sat.

"We knew all about [guards Alexa] Williams and Jackie Lewis, and we were trying to key on those two, but Jaimie made us pay for that tonight," Broad Run Coach Mike O'Hara said. "She got Chelsea in foul trouble, and that opened her up for some easy baskets, and she made them count."

McNamee made her presence felt when she returned midway through the fourth period -- scoring eight of her team-high 15 points during the period to pull the Spartans within four, 46-42, with 21 seconds remaining -- but it was too late. Lewis and junior guard Courtney Smith connected on 3 of 4 foul shots in the closing seconds to secure the win and improve the Vikings' record to 11-3.

The Spartans fell to 9-8, with seven of their eight losses coming to Class AAA opponents. Broad Run remains atop the AA Dulles District standings at 9-1.