Two Manassas Teams to Play in State Tourney

When  a team makes it to the state tournament the stage becomes bigger, the competition becomes tougher and the intensity felt by players, coaches and fans is through the roof. And that is the situation  two area high school basketball teams have found themselves in.

Friday night, the boys from Osbourn High School and the girls from Stonewall High School will play in the quarterfinals of the Virginia AAA State Tournament. Both teams will be playing on a big stage as the games will take place at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

The Stonewall girls will kick off the action as they are set to take on Cosby High School at 7 p.m. The Lady Raiders won the district tournament with relative ease and then coasted all the way to the finals of the Northwest Region tournament.

In the championship game, Stonewall lost a close battle to Forest Park, but the Lady Raiders still earned a spot in the state tournament. Stonewall will enter the state quarterfinals with an overall record of 17-6 and they will be looking to make some noise in the first round of the tournament.

The Lady Raiders have good size and they play very good defense and are hoping  putting those things on display will be enough to get them a victory and an appearance in the state semi-finals.

The Osbourn boys will be playing immediately after the Stonewall girls on Friday night and will be playing against L.C. Bird High School at 8:45.

Osbourn also coasted through the Cedar Run District tournament and then blazed through the first two rounds of the regional tournament. In the Northwest Region title game, however, the Eagles met their match when they squared off against Potomac. It was a tough game that could have gone either way, but Potomac took a two-point victory to win the title.

Osbourn will be hungry after the loss and the Eagles will be looking to make a serious run at the state title. Osbourn enters Friday night’s state quarterfinal match-up with an overall record of 24-2. If the Eagles can play their style of basketball for all four quarters, they have a good shot at knocking off L.C. Bird in the first round and advancing to the semi-finals.

Many people from the area will be traveling to Richmond on Friday night to support the area teams. Osbourn and Stonewall have already made their schools and communities extremely proud. Getting a victory tomorrow night would be a huge plus for both schools and the fans will be behind both teams, giving them the utmost support.

The Manassas area is definitely a buzz as everyone wants to see the teams perform well on the big stage.