The football season has been gone for a good two whole months, and now it’s up to the winter sports to take center stage. Indoor track is relishing in continued statewide prominence, and wrestling isn’t doing too badly either.

But does basketball really have the poise to deliver for Centreville fans?

Can the boys really compete against Concorde opponents?

Can the girls reclaim the prominence of the past?

There still remains a lot of unanswered questions, and some may very well be unanswered even after the end of the season.

Boys Varsity Basketball

The main concern for Boys Varsity is undoubtedly their consistency. Before district play began, the best win for the Boys this season so far was against Washington-Liberty, who currently have a record of 8-7. At that point, all but one loss the Wildcats have had before district play have been against teams that had more than 9 wins.

But that doesn’t mean that the Wildcats can go easy on teams with losing records. They lost 56-48 to John Champe, a team that’s currently 5-11, for their worst loss of the entire season so far. In order for the Boys to truly become competitive to at least some extent, they need to find some sort of way to get themselves back to winning ways. And in a place like the Concorde District, that’s not going to be the easiest thing to do.

District Outlook

So far in district play however, the Boys defeated the South Lakes Seahawks 54-39 last Wednesday, a team which won the state championship last season. Without a doubt this was their most significant win of the regular season so far.

Among other Concorde opposition, James Madison has a boys team that barely took South Lakes to overtime and lost by six against Washington-Liberty. The easiest opposition the Wildcats have right now is Chantilly, a team whose strength of schedule was far too high to bear, consistently faltering.

Oakton has conceded the lowest amount of points in the district so far this season with just 666, and they are a team that Centreville will need to really perform against, as they lost 47-41 in their initial meeting against Oakton, telling the Wildcats that they will need to kick into a higher gear to be taken more seriously.

Westfield is Westfield, the best public school team in Virginia, and a team that can genuinely compete with the elite private schools in the area. They’ve won 14 straight games and have already scored over 1,000 points as of now. Luckily, the Wildcats somehow managed to play bar none the best basketball they’ve played this season so far, losing by just 3 points at Westfield’s campus by a score of 70-67. 

Centreville Boys Basketball currently sits 3rd in the Concorde District standings with an overall record of 6-10 and a district record of 1-2, behind undefeated Westfield and undefeated Oakton in 2nd and 1st respectively, with Oakton having the edge against Westfield due to conceding fewer points so far this season.

Girls Varsity Basketball

Girls Varsity on the other hand has already had a good season so far, they just need that extra nudge to get themselves on another level. 

Girls Varsity has been a powerhouse in recent years, but the absences of Kennedy Parrott to Colgate University and Claire Kang to Virginia Academy has proven to be visible. Luckily however, they seem to be getting used to it. Dani Cuello and Malia Siriwardene are getting comfortable as even bigger playmakers this season, and UMES commit Aliza Murray came over from Virginia Academy to play here at Centreville, making an instant and powerful impact as she passed 1,000 career points earlier last week during her senior season here at Centreville. The Wildcats also continue to thrive under a largely young core, with junior and sophomore talents like Aidan Kownacki, Molly Veley, and Clara Stauffer, just to name a few, to make up for just three seniors on this year’s roster.

On several occasions the Wildcats have won games by double digits, but they have had a few hiccups here and there; a tough two-point defeat at Langley, one of the best girls’ teams in the DMV, as well as the short absence of Kownacki, a standout center, proving a major factor in losing by nine against Oakton, the best girls team in the Concorde in terms of overall standing as of now. So far, the Wildcats have conceded the fewest amount of points out of any team throughout the season.

District Outlook

If the girls team can just make sure to maintain their winning ways so far, they’ll be on course to regionals. However, the Concorde District this year is stacked with good teams. As of right now, five teams in the Concorde District have records at least .500, and the only team with a losing record which is South Lakes has a record of just 7-9. It cannot get as cut-throat as this. The Concorde District race is one that you should really be paying attention to, with Centreville, Chantilly, and Oakton having at least ten wins or more already.

So far, the teams that look to be good teams to beat would be James Madison, Westfield, and South Lakes, while Chantilly and Oakton are forces to be reckoned with.

James Madison was at the top of the Concorde District as they beat the bottom two teams, Westfield and South Lakes, but fell to Chantily 45-41 and so they drop down to 4th in the district due to lower PA than Centreville and Oakton. Otherwise, their overall record is 8-7. Earlier today, the Wildcats dominated Westfield 58-27 by capitalizing more off of turnovers and scoring more consistently. Westfield now stands at a record of 8-8. only 51, and are also tied with South Lakes for the lowest points scored this season. South Lakes have conceded 172 points in district play, and 714 overall amongst all Concorde teams, the worst in both respective categories. They sit dead last in the district standings.

Chantilly and Oakton are definitely the teams to beat. Chantilly stands at 11-4 so far and unbeaten in district play, with a D1 recruit in St. Peter’s commit Alex Wilson, and a D3 Washington and Lee commit in Alivia Tarry. Pure point guard Abigail Goodman has been performing well even after she suffered an ACL injury last time. Oakton boasts one of the best backcourt combos in Virginia, with Brooke Chang and Sophie Toole at the helm of the highest scoring offense in the district. They are the favorites to win the Concorde title this season just by a slight margin over Chantilly, unless the Wildcats have other ideas.

Centreville Girls Basketball currently sits 2nd in the Concorde District standings with an overall record of 11-4 and a district record of 2-1, behind Chantilly in 1st.

So here’s to the last few weeks; the home stretch of the regular season for Centreville Varsity Basketball. 

Wildcat Nation, Let’s Ride.