By Stephen A. Norris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2005

The Stonewall Jackson girls' basketball team just could not swallow the lump of a 20-point loss to Hylton last year, so it opted for revenge.

And, oh, how sweet it was.

The Raiders -- an up-and-coming team a year ago -- have come of age, as evidenced by their 63-59 home victory over No. 19 Hylton on Monday night. Hylton (2-1) in recent years has been one of the top programs in the area, while Stonewall (2-0) has had just one winning season in the past 15 years.

"They were talking a lot of stuff," Stonewall Jackson senior Barbara Davis said. "One [player] said she was going to drop 30 on us."

"We couldn't really say anything because they beat us by a lot last year," sophomore Takieya Rouse said.

In just his second year with the program, Stonewall Coach Nsonji White has instilled in his players a sense of pride and confidence -- making sure they don't back down from any team. One of his greatest causes is earning respect for teams from the western end of Prince William County. According to White and some of his players, western end teams have earned a reputation for being "soft" in sports, and although eastern end teams typically have dominated in basketball, "soft" doesn't go over well in any sport.

"Ever since he got here he's been saying the east has no respect for the west because . . . the west side is not as tough as the east side," Davis said.

White used to live on the eastern side of the county and coaches the Prince William Virginians, an AAU team. He said he has heard for years the attitude eastern end schools have about the western end schools and branded that into his Stonewall players' minds.

"In the summer time I wear a Forest Park shirt in here, I wear a Hylton shirt in here to fire them up," White said. "Oh, they hate it. They curse under their breath and everything. In open gyms all summer I would call out our spankings. We got a real bad spanking from Forest Park and Hylton last year. We've got Hylton out of the way. If we show up strong against [No. 7] Forest Park, I guess the east will then understand that there are some powers in the west now."

The Raiders took advantage of their versatility and size against Hylton. Six-foot forward Davis and 5-foot-9 guard Rouse cut through the defense for lay-ins or trips to the foul line. Davis finished with 22 points and Rouse scored 16 -- on 14-of-18 free throw shooting.

"The scouting report is that they are foul prone," White said. "Most of their post girls are on Barbara and we just take advantage of the big girls. That was the game plan from the start."

A Davis lay-in, a minute and a half into the second half, gave the Raiders an eight-point lead. A driving bank shot from Hylton's Shanee Purnell cut the lead to 59-56 with 45 seconds remaining, but Stonewall Jackson freshman Samantha Jordan (12 points) netted two free throws with 34 seconds remaining, giving Stonewall Jackson a 61-56 lead and forcing the Bulldogs to foul in desperation.

"It's like we're in the same book but not on the same page," first-year Hylton coach Emily Faught said. "I don't care about any rivalry, I just want to worry about Hylton. Apparently we were more worried about what Stonewall was doing and not Hylton."