Manchester falls in state title game, but continues to build for success; Atlee prevails over Varina

Manchester falls in state title game (jump to Atlee-Varina here)

Chesterfield County is in the midst of a golden age for girls basketball.

Cosby and Monacan have won multiple Virginia High School League state titles over the past dozen seasons, with L.C. Bird, Midlothian, James River and Thomas Dale all reaching the game’s biggest stage.

After a quiet start to his head coaching stint at Manchester, Rasheed Wright found his groove, and, for the past three seasons, the Lancers have played for state championships.

Losing a 49-46 heartbreaker to James Madison two seasons ago, Manchester rebounded, went 27-2, and defeated Thomas Dale for the Class 6 title in 2024. But as this season approached, he also had an eye on another team, this one from Manassas: Osbourn Park.

Wright scheduled the Yellow Jackets for a regular season encounter in February, and his Lancers fell 64-41. He wasn’t surprised when Osbourn Park stormed their way through the playoffs, taking the court Saturday afternoon against Manchester at the Siegel Center.

This time, despite a valiant effort, it was a simple case of a cold shooting performance that allowed the Yellow Jackets to pull away late, securing their first-ever state crown with a 60-48 victory.

Manchester (23-4) shot 1-for-15 from beyond the 3-point arc over the first three periods, helping Osbourn Park build a small, but consistent, lead. But the Yellow Jackets couldn’t cement the advantage due to a woeful performance at the free throw line, shooting just 8-for 19 during that time.

The final blow, ironically, came at the line as Osbourn Park scored 11 of its 23 fourth quarter points from the charity stripe. The Lancers took 13 more shots than the Yellow Jackets (53-40), but both teams hit 17 shots from the floor.

“I told the girls a lot of people didn’t expect us to be here this year,” Wright said after the game. “I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish this season. We came up short, but Coach Chrissy (Kelly) is a helluva coach, that’s a helluva team, and she’s been building that year after year.”

Osbourn Park lost back-to-back state finals in 2021 and 2022. Kelly had effusive praise for the Lancers amidst the celebration.

“It wasn’t easy. Manchester, let me make that very clear, Coach Wright is really, really, really good,” noted Kelly. “So is Manchester. You want to talk about a team that prepared over the last month to win? They sure did.”

Finley Weaver led the Lancers with 15 points, while Madison Smith overcame early foul trouble to score 14. Class 6, Region A player of the year Rayne Wright struggled from the floor, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds.

It was a performance not indicative of her high school career or her fascinating abilities. After the game, the future Richmond Spider showed grace and maturity beyond her years.

“We didn’t get a lot of good shots, and the shots we did get, we weren’t hitting them,” she explained. “We had to keep playing. OP is a good team. They kept hitting shots.”

Her journey began in Raleigh, North Carolina, moving at a month old to France. Her father, a standout at Old Dominion, played professionally in France for thirteen seasons. He and his daughter speak fluent French.

They also speak fluent basketball, and, though he had no plans to coach basketball returning stateside, in the summer of 2019 he found himself accepting the top coach position with the Lancers, a program in need of a jump start. It gave him an opportunity to begin a new chapter, investing in his children.

“One of the reasons I didn’t want to coach (Rayne) or her sisters is because I’m so competitive,” Coach explained. “I know what it takes to get to the next level, and it’s not always delivered nicely.”

The duo joked that Saturday wasn’t the last time father would coach daughter.

“We’ll be on the court this summer, because she’s got a lot of work to do,” Wright said, turning to his daughter. “How do you feel about me not coaching you anymore? She’s probably happy.”

“He’ll still be coaching me from the sidelines,” Rayne replied. 

Later, she summed up both this part of her career with her dad being her head coach, and her future at Richmond with her dad as, well, dad.

“It’s not a negative thing with him not coaching me anymore because I feel like I’ll get more of just Dad,” Rayne said. 

“I’m looking forward to that, too,” Coach noted.

But Manchester foes beware. With standouts like Weaver and Smith coming back, and with the second Wright sibling taking the court for the junior varsity this fall, the Lancer run may have only just begun.

Atlee wins first boys basketball state title

Because most of the pregame hype all but ignored Varina in its state boy’s basketball final, we fully expected the Blue Devils to give Atlee fits, and quite possibly win the game against the favored Raiders. After all, in seven previous seasons, or since he became Atlee coach, Rally Axselle had never beaten Varina. The 0-for streak ended in the region title matchup … by a mere 7 points, after the game was tied after three quarters.

Wrong again, big boy.

Atlee rolled to its first championship in boys’ hoops 66-44 Friday night at VCU’s Siegel Center, and it was difficult to tell who was more stunned by the one-sided outcome.

“I don’t think we took them seriously,” said Varina coach Kenneth Randolph at the outset of the Blue Devils’ post-game Q-and-A with reporters … accompanied by three of his players, who pretty much sat there, starring straight ahead, expressionless.

“He said what?” Axselle said, which was our reaction, too. 

On second thought, it probably didn’t matter. What Randolph meant, of course, was his team got caught up in the past. The Blue Devils were more athletic, after all, and since he became Varina coach five years ago, Randolph’s teams claimed state championships in 2022 and 2023.

Compare that to Atlee, which hadn’t qualified for the state tournament, period, since opening its doors in 1991.

So you could only imagine how hard it was for Randolph to admit: “They were the better team … today,” he said.

Actually, given the way the game progressed before a crowd estimated at 7,500 (all tickets were sold, though there were some no-shows), you would have been hard-pressed to envision Varina (19-5) beating the Raiders (26-1) anywhere, under any conditions.

Other than a snappy 9-0 run to trail by two points after one quarter, the Blue Devils were outplayed, outmanned and basically overwhelmed once they began the game in a zone defense, to the delight of the Raiders who came in figuring on a tight man resistance built around the one thing most rivals had over Atlee, which was quickness.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Knox Axselle, son of the coach and one of 10 seniors that will have to be replaced. He promptly hit a 3-point field goal, followed by another trey by sophomore Connor Wilcox as Atlee raced to a quick 11-point advantage and never trailed thereafter.

Wilcox, who will have to carry the inexperienced Raiders next year, led all scorers with 18 points. The 6-foot-5 forward was 7 of 10 from the floor including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc, where Atlee really dominated (8 of 17 to only 2 of 20 by Varina).

The region’s player of the year Will Hopkins had 17 points as well as seven rebounds and five assists, both game highs, for Atlee, which led by 27-21 midway and 43-32 after three periods. K. Axselle added 14 points (3 for 5 treys) as the Raiders dominated the boards (42-31) – which surprised coach Randolph almost as much as his team shooting 29.6% from the floor.

“I can’t remember us ever shooting that poorly,” he said.

Caleb Straughter had 16 points for Varina. Brian Mitchell finished with 11.