Last Friday night could not have been much better for first-year Madison High girls basketball coach Kirsten Roberts, who got a chance to visit her former coaching grounds while also seeing her new team pick-up a win.
Roberts’ Warhawks defeated host McLean — the school where Roberts was the girls hoops coach from 2000 through 2004 — by a 48-34 score. With the Liberty District win, Madison improved to 4-7 overall and 2-2 in district play.
During Roberts’ four years at the helm of McLean, she helped turn a fledgling program into one that was respectable. She has nothing but fond memories of her time with the Highlanders.
"It was a great learning experience," Roberts said. "When I came in, McLean didn’t have much of a program. We built it up into a tradition of working hard. The kids worked real hard at McLean. I had a great time at McLean and it was great to be back."
This season has not been an easy one thus far for Roberts and her new Madison team, which is vastly different personnel wise from the Warhawks’ squad of a year ago that went 26-2 and reached the Northern Region semifinals under former head coach Denise Weinig, who stepped down following last winter’s season in order to focus on being a mother.
The Warhawks, with several new players in their starting lineup this season, have struggled to find the same success as in recent years.
"We lost a lot of scoring [to graduation] from last year and people have had to learn new roles," Roberts said.
<b>ROBERTS</b>, a former Madison player herself, is steadfast on rebuilding the program back up again. The win over McLean was big because it got the Warhawks back to the .500 mark in district play. Junior guard Erin Kavanagh (12 points) and senior guard/forward Danielle Landry (11) both scored in double figures to lead Madison. Senior forward Becca Speck added eight points in the victory.
Roberts said she has enjoyed her first season at the helm of the Madison team. Over the past three years, she was earning her master’s degree at Loyola University of Chicago. This past summer, Weinig, the former Madison coach, gave Roberts a phone call informing her that the head coaching position was open. She encouraged Roberts to apply for it, which she did. Roberts was offered the position in August.
She has enjoyed being back in the Northern Region coaching scene.
"It’s wonderful," she said. "There are still a lot of the same old faces and assistant coaches. I love the Northern Region. Being back at Madison is definitely where I want to be."
Roberts was a player at Madison under former Warhawks’ coach Pat Deegan from 1991 through 1995. There, she was part of a renowned program that earned state playoff appearances during her freshmen, sophomore and senior years. Madison captured the state AAA title when Roberts was a 10th-grader.
Now, as the Madison coach, she still keeps in contact with both Weinig and Deegan, who are always willing to offer their advice or encourage her.
<b>ON THE COURT</b>, the Madison team is getting better and better as the season moves on. The Warhawks started the season 0-5, but have won four of six games since then. The wins have come over Centreville, Freedom of South Riding, Stone Bridge and McLean. Kavanagh and Landry are both averaging in double figures scoring to lead Madison. Landry is the team’s lone starter back from last year. Other key players include junior point guard Khristin Kyllo and sophomore guard Sarah Schrock, a top defender.
"The girls are starting to get used to the way I like things run and getting used to playing with each other," Roberts said. "They come to practice every day and work hard for two hours."
Roberts believes her team grew by competing in a competitive holiday tournament — The Bulldog Bash, hosted by Westfield High School — Dec. 27-30. There, Madison defeated a talented Freedom High team by two points. The Eagles are perhaps the top team in Loudoun County’s Dulles District. After the win over Freedom, Madison lost to both a team from Pennsylvania and Midlothian High from Virginia.
"All three teams we played were tough," Roberts said. "They played good defense and were really strong."
Certainly, the holiday tournament was good preparation for the Warhawks as they will now focus on their difficult district schedule over the next several weeks. Madison was scheduled to play district games this week at Langley on Tuesday and at home against Jefferson this Friday night.