Two Arlington teams advanced to the semifinals and another lost in first-round action of the girls and boys 6D North Region high-school basketball tournaments the night of Feb. 22.
Moving on are the Washington-Liberty Generals in boys action and the Yorktown Patriots in girls, each Liberty District tournament champions. The Wakefield Warriors (11-10) had their season end with a first-round 69-56 loss to the host Madison Warhawks in a boys game.
Washington-Liberty (17-6) hosted and defeated the Centreville Wildcats, 67-54, in its first-rounder for the Generals’ ninth win in a row. James McIntyre scored 20 to lead W-L, which was ahead 34-20 at halftime.
The Generals built an early lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way. Washington-Liberty had lost to Centreville, 59-46, during an early regular season game.
Washington-Liberty hosts Madison (19-5) in a region semifinal game at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24. The teams met in December at Wakefield during a holiday tournament, with Madison winning 79-61, but W-L was missing three key players in that contest.
The Yorktown girls (20-4) downed the visiting Westfield Bulldogs, 50-44, in a game that was close throughout. Yorktown led 24-22 at halftime.
Sofia Tran had 12 points and made three three-pointers for Yorktown. Asha Goodwin scored 11 to go with three assists and three rebounds. Ana Bournigal had 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Olivia Stafford scored seven, Taylor Chase six and Emma Nelsen three.
Yorktown will host the Langley Saxons (18-4) in a region semifinal at 7 p.m. Feb. 24. The teams split two regular-season games, with Langley winning the most recent, 55-50.
In Wakefield’s loss to Madison, the game was close until the Warhawks surged ahead midway through the third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 18-8 in the period. The Warhawks led 33-31 at halftime, and were up 51-40 after three periods.
For Wakefield, Kobe Davis scored 23 points and multiple rebounds and Lorenzo Cole had 12 points with nine rebounds. Seth Langford scored six and had eight rebounds. Ricardo Snyder scored five, Austin Chaney and Jose Fudd three each and Tyrig Harris-Ford and Horace Willis Jr. scored two.
NOTES: Wakefield’s Fudd is the son of former Madison High School girls basketball standout Katie Smrcka-Duffy, who frequently scorched the Madison home nets during her playing days for the Warhawks, leading the team to two state-tourney runner-up finishes. Like his mother, Fudd is a good three-point shooter, taking multiple attempts in the same gym on Feb. 22, but against a Madison team instead . . . The meeting between the Wakefield and Madison boys was just the third since 1990, all in region-tournament games, according to Wakefield sports historian Frank Haddock. Wakefield won in 1990 in the region-tourney semifinals and Madison was victorious in a 2003 first-round region playoff clash.