Hard schedule for Panthers plays role

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: February 28, 2008

The Potomac girls’ basketball schedule featured a slew of difficult opponents from around the region; coach Mike Wilson can rattle them off: Forest Park, Stonewall Jackson, H.D. Woodson in D.C.; Riverdale Baptist in Maryland.

All of those difficult games, and the losses that came with them, served a greater purpose: When the compressed schedule of the postseason came around, the Panthers wouldn’t have to worry about facing talented opponents.

They’d already done it.

After knocking off unbeaten Stonewall Jackson on Tuesday night, Potomac (15-9) earned the right to travel to GW-Danville for tonight’s Northwest Region semifinal. The trip itself will be diffi-cult enough — the Panthers are scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. for the night game — and will play in one of the most difficult environments in the region.

“They do have a tough crowd, but we just have to stay focused and not let anybody get in our heads,” junior Quianna Kizer said.

“Definitely from the boys going down there the past couple of years, they’ve been kind of giving us pointers throughout the day,” senior Lynetta Kizer — Quianna’s sister — said. “I think we’ll be prepared. We played in atmospheres like Franklin County and H.D. Woodson, so I think we’ll be fine.”

It was Lynetta Kizer’s tip-in with a second left that pushed Potomac to the win over the Raiders; the play was the culmination of a fourth quarter that saw the Panthers rally from an eight-point deficit on the road against the defending region champions.

Such momentum would seem to give the Panthers a boost heading into their matchup with the 21-5 Eagles, who beat North Stafford on Tuesday to stretch their winning streak to 12 games.

Potomac will have to be wary of an Eagle team that features Western Valley District Player of the Year Erica Warren — she had a game-high 25 points against the Wolverines — and has lost only two games to Virginia schools this season. Three of their losses came during the first six games of the season.

The Panthers have a winning streak too, though much more modest at one game. But that one game was the Panthers’ marquee win of the season.

“The girls, they were aware of what was ahead three weeks ago when we played Forest Park [at Potomac] for first place,” Wilson said. “So we knew there was two roads to go. And unfortunately we had to take this one, but we still feel like we can get it done. Had we been first in our district or second, we could still get it done.”