Girls Basketball Insider: SJC & Sidwell Still On Top
WCAC – St. John’s is St. John’s and Still is St. John’s
Top 10 Girls Basketball Players in the DMV; Discuss here; Photos from St. John’s vs. McNamara
St. John’s 45, McNamara 41
As predicted, all the teams we wrote about made it to the semifinals. And like we said, Jon Scriber and his St. John’s Cadets are still top dog.
To understand what a WCAC senior means to a team come playoff time is something no one can comprehend unless you see how tough these conference games are every night. Sure girls come in as highly-touted freshman, but it’s very hard to jump right in and play a major part in winning a championship.
Frankly speaking, everyone can say some underclassmen are better than others, but there is nothing any girl can do to prepare themselves to play in the WCAC playoff unless they have been there before. Take highly considered freshman Qandance Samuels, whose sister is playing at UConn as a freshman this year. Samuels played very well in the game connecting on a few threes and a tough layup. She’s on the coveted ESPN top 2027 watchlist.
As good as she is, it’s hard to say she was better than any of the seniors on the court for the Cadets. She may be one day, but let’s give some credit to the seniors and what they had to go through the past few years to prepare themselves for the WCAC playoffs.
Playing in the WCAC is like playing on a shoe circuit for another four months after all the summer shoe circuits end. There isn’t a better high school basketball conference in the country.
Regarding the game, McNamara looked out of sync the first half, especially without their superstar senior Maddie McDaniel on the court. The future Gamecock was really missed and we hope she has a speedy recovery. St. John’s started four seniors in Kendall Walker, Tatum Greene, Carolae Barton and Jaidyn Harper, and they took control of the game early and never let go. Walker played as everyone thought she would, hitting tough shot after tough shot to keep control of the game.
The Mustangs were down double digits at halftime but everyone in the building knew they would not let this chance to win go easily. In the second half, the Mustangs were able to get into their signature press and started to wear down the Cadets. The game was a defensive battle the entire second half, especially in the fourth quarter.
McNamara held St Johns to an astonishing three points in the fourth quarter if you don’t count the two free throws at the end of the game with seconds left on the clock.
DCSportsFan’s stars of the game for McNamara were Vanessa Harris and Zhen Craft. Vanessa was nonstop energy all game. Her acrobatic layup to get within two points at the end of the game would have been talked about alot more if the Mustangs could have pulled the win out.
Zhen Craft battled Carolae Barton from St. John’s all game long. Defensively, Zhen made her presence felt at all times. On the offensive side, she had her low post game on display. It will be interesting to see how she develops over the summer, and she will be a Player of the Year candidate next season..
On the St. John’s side, Kendal Walker and Carolae Barton stood out from the rest. Kendal Walker was the best player on the court and any time the Cadets needed a basket, she was the one with the ball in hand. McNamara’s pressure did not seem to bother her at all, many times breaking the press all by herself. It will be exciting to see how she can keep developing down the street in College Park.
Carolae Barton was the hardest working player on the court. She did anything and everything to help SJC get the trophy. Barton played like this was her last WCAC tournament game ever, leaving everything on the floor and even came back into the game after spraining her ankle. She was the definition of senior leadership.
ISL is Being Left in Good Hands
Sidwell Friends 56, Bullis 49
Sidwell Friends held the lead after the first quarter and never relinquished it. Bullis did get within one point in the middle of the fourth quarter, but again, Sidwell had another answer. The Quakers never looked flustered. They just kept going back to their two star seniors, Kendall Dudley and Zania Socka.
Dudley played under control the entire game, handling the ball, making the great pass and scoring when needed. She never forced anything and just kept doing what makes her a top 20 player in her class.
Socka was the force needed in the paint. She grabbed rebounds, played defense and scored in so many ways. From her rebounding to her defensive presence, Socka controlled the interior making every basket a tough one for Bullis. Her offensive post play is as impressive and now she’s added her shooting range out to the three-point line. UCLA has two more good players coming from the DMV.
Now, on to Bullis. There is a six-foot freshman that can be the Washing Post POY for the next three years in Ivanna Manyacka.
She was the best player on the court.
Manyacka was handed the responsibility of guarding Jordyn Jackson on the defensive end. For those who don’t know, Jackson is a top three player in the ENTIRE class of 2026 and plays on the Team USA 16U team that won gold last year. She is a star among stars.
Manyacka was a menace on the defensive end vs. Jackson all game long. Not only did she play defense on one of the best offensive players in the DMV, but she was then guarded by Kendal Dudley.
You would think the length and athletic ability of Dudley would be enough to slow down any freshman. But Manyacka is not any freshman. She put the team on her shoulders and did her best Kobe impersonation to try and lead her team to the win.
On one of the biggest stages for DMV high school basketball, Ivanna Manyacka put on a shooting exhibition that had the entire gym thinking she really can carry Bullis to the championship picture at the end of the game. She hit contested threes after contested threes keeping Bullis within striking distance throughout the entire game.
One play that especially stood out was when Manyacka grabbed a defensive rebound, turned to the basket in one motion, dribbled the ball up the court passing by defenders along the way and hit a pull-up jumpshot. She is the next!
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