WEST POTOMAC WITHSTANDS FOURTH QUARTER RALLY TO GET REVENGE OVER ROBINSON

2/14/25 – This game was a lot different than the game they played three weeks ago when Robinson Secondary School defeated West Potomac High School by three points. In the last game, Robinson started out the game with a 18-0 lead. Tonight, West Potomac took a 12-6 lead that it never relinquished. In the last game, Robinson’s Georgia Simonsen was double teamed every time she got the ball in the first half and barely scored. Tonight, Simonsen scored 13 points in the first half and kept her team in the game. In the last game, West Potomac made a furious fourth quarter rally to make the game close. Tonight, it was Robinson’s turn to make a late fourth quarter rally.

The first half went back and forth with Simonsen doing the scoring for Robinson, with help from her teammate freshman London Augustin who scored 7 points. Unlike the last time these teams met, West Potomac was hitting its shots, led by Abigail Beddis who had two 3-pointers in the first quarter and Dawn Houston who scored 13 points in the half. West Potomac led at halftime 31-26.

The biggest play of the game came in the final seconds of the third quarter when Robinson had the ball down by 6 points. Instead of cutting the lead, Robinson made a cross-court pass which was intercepted by Jones who ran down court and hit a big 3-pointer to extend West Potomac’s lead to 9 points at the end of the quarter, 41-32.

Any hope for a fourth quarter comeback was temporarily dashed by Beddis’s 3-pointer to start the quarter. But Robinson fought back. Down by nine with four minutes to go, London stripped the ball from West Potomac’s Dawn Houston and drove down the court for a layup. Then Robinson’s Madison Coutinho hit a breakaway layup to bring West Potomac’s lead down to five points. But Robinson’s rally was stymied by West Potomac’s Smith who made another big play when she cut to the basket on a side out-of-bounds play and got open for a layup. And that was followed by West Potomac’s Houston taking a charge when Coutinho drove to the basket with 2-1/2 minutes to go in the game. From there, Robinson could not get any closer and West Potomac went on to win, 54-42.

Perhaps the unsung hero of the night was West Potomac’s Delores Harkless who had the difficult task of guarding one of Robinson’s stars, Coutinho, most of the game. Coutinho had a hard time getting open looks and scored 5 points in the game.

West Potomac had three players in double figures, Abigail Beddis, 16 points; Dawn Houston, 16 points; and Olivia Jones, 12 points. Robinson’s Simonsen had 17 points and Augustin London had 11 points.

These two teams will likely meet again in the district playoffs which start next week.