With two convincing victories, the Yorktown Patriots won the four-team Reagan Sharnae Way Holiday Invitational girls high-school basketball tournament at Annandale High School.
Yorktown routed Gar-Field, 57-24, in the first game, then Annandale, 71-40, in the second. The wins snapped a six-game losing streak for Yorktown (3-9).
"Those two games gave us some momentum, and we want to carry that into the rest of our games," Yorktown coach Devaughn Drayton said. "We have a very young team, so that tournament benefitted us and gave us the chance to work on a lot of stuff. Everything clicked for us."
There are no seniors on Yorktown's roster, which includes six freshmen and two sophomores.
Against Gar-Field, sophomore point guard Eleanor Mahshie led Yorktown in scoring with 16 points. Fiona Bensten scored 11, Olivia Shiplett had eight, Ainsley Lomas six, Victoria Carcillo and Elena Debevec five each, Sam Donahue four and Helene Lydon two.
Mahshie made four three-pointers and had seven assists and three steals. Donahue had nine rebounds, Shiplett (three steals, four deflections, two blocks) six and Carcillo three. Rebecca Griffin had three assists.
"Eleanor had a good, well-rounded effort in those two games, and she has made big steps for us at point guard," Drayton said.
In the win over host Annandale, Mahshie (three threes) scored 21 points, Shiplett had 12, Carcillo (three threes) nine, Debevec (two threes) eight, Donahoe seven, Lydon five and Bensten four. Mahshie added eight rebounds and six assists. Donahoe had seven boards and three assists; Lomas had seven assists, six steals and four rebounds; and Bensten had four boards and three steals. Carcillo and Shiplett had two steals each.
In games prior to the tournament, Yorktown lost on a walk-off shot against Oakton and were defeated in close contests against Marshall and Falls Church.
"We have been in some dog fights with this young team," Drayton said.
