The Duke’s Hoops Preview: Central vs Strasburg

2/13/26, Woodstock, VA- Regular season high school basketball coverage concludes tonight with Central hosting Strasburg in the Hike Kidz Foundation Game of the Week c/o Brickhouse Bar and Grill on Fox Sports Radio 1450, The River 95.3 app, and TheRiver953.com starting with the girls matchup at 6 pm, followed by the boys with an estimated tip-off set for 7:45 pm.

It will be a festive evening in Woodstock as the Central community will acknowledge the senior cheer and basketball athletes for Senior Night and the Falcon’s softball team will receive their 2025 State Championship rings during halftime of the boys game.

Amongst the pomp and circumstance, two huge games will be played to determine seeding for the upcoming District and Regional playoffs.

When the girls take the floor, Strasburg will have a chance at the top seed with a win over Central and a Clarke County loss to Luray on Monday.

Central would love nothing more than to spoil that chance a at a top seed for their cross-county rivals and place themselves in a more confident position for the post season.

The Rams will be riding high after their upset win over Clarke County earlier this week.

Strasburg snapped a 12 game winning streak for Clarke County and extended their own winning streak to 11 games after a play originally drawn up for Emily Gorrell ended up in the hands of Jayden Stinnette down-low for the game winning layup.

The senior duo has been integral in Strasburg’s run this season with Gorrell leading the Bull Run District in scoring (17.8 points per game), steals (3.8 per game), and assists (3.2 per game) while Stinnette leads the District in rebounding with 8.3 per game.

Gorrell had one of her best games of the season against Central in the first go round and finished with 27 points (17/18 FT), 7 steals, and 3 rebounds.

If the Falcons want to put themselves in a position to pull-off the win, they will need to defend Gorrell more effectively and keep her from getting to the free throw line.

In Year 1 under coach Rich Cooley, Central has essentially beaten the teams they should and struggled against the other top teams in the District going a combined 1-4 against Strasburg, Clarke County, and Luray.

The Falcons have a talented senior class that will want to leave their homecourt on Senior Night with a win and that group is led by guard Vanessa Gordon.

Gordon is 2nd behind Gorrell in BRD scoring with 14.5 per game and is the best 3-point shooter in the region at nearly a 40% clip.

In the Falcons lone win against top district competition, Gordon knocked down five first half three pointers and her sister Vanessa filled up the stat sheet with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.

It will take a true team effort for Central, and maybe some Senior Night magic to beat the Rams, or for Strasburg to overlook the matchup with their sights already set on a playoff run and riding high from the win over Clarke County.

Following the girls game, the boys will play for the #1 seed in the Region 2B tournament and the regular season District Championship in what should be a very competitive and defensively focused battle.

When these teams played against each other earlier this season, the winner was the first team to 40 and that ended up being the Central Falcons.

Both teams went ice cold in the second half with Strasburg going 0-11 in the third period and Central going 0-6 in the fourth, but the Falcons had enough of a lead and a few clutch free throws to hold on for the win.

Since the loss, Strasburg has rallied for 7 straight wins and seen the growth of Jasiah Warner into one of the top players in the Bull Run.

Warner is coming off a 20 point game against Clarke County and consistently causes problems on defense with his length.

Gavin Dellinger will always get his for the Rams and leads the team with 14.6 per game, trailing only D-1 bound Matthew Owens in Bull Run scoring.

Central’s lone loss since the Strasburg matchup came against Owens and his Luray Bulldogs, but other than that blemish, Coach Whittle has his group playing elite level basketball.

With the departure of John Marshall’s head coach and Luray dropping to Class 1, Central emerged as an early contender in Class 2 for the State Title and has done nothing to make you think otherwise.

Central ranked 5th in the most recent Basketball Coaches Association of Virginia poll.

Dereck Batiz-Lugo picked up where he left off last season after claiming BRD Player of the Year as sophomore and earning 2nd Team All State.

This year, Batiz-Lugo has continued to play at a high level and leads the area in steals with 3.1 per game to go with 14.3 points per game while limiting turnovers as the teams primary ball handler.

Central is a team full of players who know their role and for Jonathan Akasa that job is to get rebounds.

Listed at 6’1″, Akasa leads the Bull Run in rebounding with 7.4 per game and can knock down the three-ball at 37.3%.

Like the first matchup, this game could be a race to 40 and rebounding to give your team an extra possession could mean the difference between a win or a loss.

Central appears to have an advantage on the glass with Akasa averaging a full 2.5 rebounds more than Strasburg’s leading rebounder, Warner, and in the first matchup, Gracen Hottle led Strasburg in rebounds with 9 but that will be hard to replicate for the 5’8″ guard.

Due to that potential edge in rebounding, I look for Central to pull out another close win over the Rams with Batiz-Lugo putting the game on ice late, 42-39.

In the girls matchup, Strasburg’s senior duo of Gorrell and Stinnette combined with Coach Stinnette’s ability to keep the team focused on their rival and not looking ahead will allow the Rams to take the win on the road, 52-43, and keep their hopes of a #1 seed alive.

For more high school hoops coverage, check out the latest Sports Dogs Podcast where we preview the upcoming playoff hopefuls, highlight the biggest local basketball story lines in the “Three Pointer”, and of recap the Super Bowl.

The Duke’s Region 2B Championships Preview

The Region 2B Basketball Championships takeover Shenandoah University in tonight’s Van Metre Homes Games of the Week on The River 95.3, Fox Sports Radio 1450, theriver953.com and The River 95.3 app with coverage of the Girls Championship Game starting at 5:45 pm followed by the Boys Championship Game around 7:45 pm.

On the girls’ side, #1 seed Clarke County knocked off Page County and Central to advance to the title game while #3 seed Stuarts Draft took out Riverheads and Luray along the way.

Stuarts Draft avoided #2 seed Strasburg after the Rams were shorthanded against Luray in the Regional Quarterfinals before navigating past a Bulldog team that gave them their first loss of the season back in December.

Stuarts Draft enters the Regional Championship game on a nine game win streak and the Cougars are led by Shenandoah District Coach of the Year Chad Seibert and All District selections Ava Flippin, Augusta Seibert, and Madyson Mason.

The 19-4 Cougars have already well surpassed last season’s 12-11 performance that ended in a Regional Quarterfinals loss, but Clarke County will likely be the best team that Stuarts Draft has seen all year.

The Eagles have dominated Class 2 competition this year with just one loss coming against their peers, the other three came while playing higher classifications.

Clarke County is usually led by junior Alainah and freshman Paige McKavish with the elder sister recently being named District Player of the Year while both were named 1st Team All District selections.

Paige Stemberger earned 2nd Team honors and shined in our most recent coverage of the Eagles against Page County on Tuesday night.

Stemberger, a Paul VI transfer, led Clarke County in scoring for the majority of the evening and finished with a stat stuffing line of 23 points, 7 steals, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds.

When players like Stemberger, forward Devin Simmons-McDonald, and Eryn Demko contribute at levels like that to go along with the McKavish’s regular production, Clarke County will be a very tough-out for any team in the VHSL playoffs.

Clarke County’s team defense regularly wreaks havoc in their full court and half court zone pressures to build massive leads including a 36-0 start in Regional Quarterfinal.

When the boys take the floor, it will be another #1 vs #3 matchup with Central taking on Luray.

The Falcons and Bulldogs have already faced off three times since February 4th with all three going Central’s way, but each a bit closer than the previous.

The inaugural bout saw Central dominate the 2nd period and pull away to a 22 point win.

The second time the Bulldogs hosted the Falcons and actually led by 6 past the midway point of the fourth quarter before allowing an 18-8 run to lose 53-47.

Central and Luray’s most recent meeting also had hardware on the line in the Bull Run District Championship.

Luray limited Bull Run District Player of the Year Dereck Batiz-Lugo to just 5 points and led by as much as 10 in the 2nd quarter before the Falcons began their comeback.

Central led by just 1 with about 35 seconds left but Luray turned the ball over before getting a shot attempt and eventually fell 61-57.

The Falcons were led by Joseph Pan in that game with 26 points and 8 rebounds, and the junior is one of many Falcons who can lead the team in scoring on any given night.

Coach Jeff Whittle’s balanced approach landed four players on the All-District teams including 1st Teamers Batiz-Lugo and Luke Williams and 2nd Teamers Haiden Click and Maddox Davis.

Coach Matt Huff’s Bulldogs are led by one of the top backcourts in the Valley with Blake Jenkins and Matthew Owens.

The 1st Team All District selections combine for over 32 ppg and the junior Owens could potentially become the highest scorer in school history after already eclipsing 1000 points during the Bull Run District Tournament.

I predict Clarke County will continue to look ahead of the pack tonight but will begin to meet some similarly skilled foes in the State level.

Eagles win 86-67 with another 20+ point performance by Alainah McKavish.

The boys matchup on the other hand will come down to the final possession.

Not many teams can shoot the deep ball to keep up with Luray, but Central’s Haiden Click can help do just that and is coming off a career high 25 points including 5 three-pointers.

He will stay hot to lead Central and Luray’s buzzer beater rims off, Falcons win 51-49.

The Duke’s Doubleheader Preview: Central vs Strasburg

Strasburg hosts Central tonight in girls and boys basketball for the Van Metre Homes Games of the Week on Fox Sports Radio 1450, theriver953.com, and The River 95.3 app with the boys starting things off at 6 pm followed by the girls around 7:30 pm.

Central’s boys enter the evening winners of eight of their last nine and Bull Run District Regular Season Champions.

The Falcons are led by one of top guard-forward duos in the District in Dereck Batiz-Lugo and Luke Williams

Batiz-Lugo, the sophomore guard, ranks in the area’s top five in points (12.6), assists (2.7), and steals (3.1) per game.

Williams, a 6’4″ senior, leads the Falcons in rebounds (6.9) and is just behind Batiz-Lugo at 10.9 points per game.

In the previous matchup with an undersized Strasburg team, Williams used his height advantage to lead the game in scoring with 18 points and helped anchor a Falcons defense that allowed just 8 points the first half.

Strasburg fell to Central 64-31 in that game and will need to figure out the Falcons defense faster to stay in the game this go round.

One way to figure out any defense is to just shoot over it and Strasburg’s Gavin Dellinger can do just that.

The sophomore guard has shown the ability to score in bunches this season.

Dellinger is coming off a 29 point performance against Page County and helped lead a comeback win against Madison County a few weeks ago with 7 points in the 4th quarter.

Senior guard Takhi Coates can also bare the scoring load and led the Rams with 20 points in the win over Stonewall Jackson last week.

The 7:30 tip-off is usually reserved for the boys, but Strasburg and Central’s girls have earned the primetime slot thanks to their play this season.

Strasburg struggled a bit out of the gates as they adjusted to life without Macy Smith (now at D-I St. Bonaventure), but have found their stride as the calendar turned, going 15-1 in 2025.

The Falcons have also taken off in 2025 and lost just three of their last 13 games including one to Strasburg.

Addison Morgan and Emily Gorrell have stepped up this season to lead the Rams after being solid contributors to last season’s state playoff team.

Gorrell ranks in the top two in the area in points (15), steals (3), and assists (4) per game while Morgan dominates the paint as the area’s second leading rebounder with 7 per game to go with 10 points per game.

The area’s top scorer is Central’s Vanessa Gordon who just surpasses Gorrell at 15.2 points per game.

Gordon was held under her season average at 13 points in the first matchup between Strasburg and Central this season as the Rams man to man defense dominated.

The Falcons tallied single-digit point totals in the first three quarters and trailed 36-17 in the third.

When Central attempted a 4th quarter comeback with a 14-3 run, Gorrell slammed the door shut scoring the Rams final 8 points and shooting 6/9 from the line.

I predict the Strasburg girls will lean on their experienced roster to clinch the game late over a young, senior-less Central squad, 42-38.

The Strasburg boys could potentially catch Central looking ahead to the playoffs as they have already clinched the regular season title, but the rivalry game aspect should prevent the Falcons from overlooking their opponent.

The Central boys will enter the playoffs with momentum after another win over Strasburg tonight, 59-43.

For more coverage on our local high school athletes, check out the latest Sports Dogs Podcast which highlights some of the area’s top commits like Central’s Nick Barahona and top uncommitted athletes like Strasburg’s Takhi Coates available here.

The Duke’s Doubleheader Hoops Preview: Central vs Strasburg

It’s rivalry night in Shenandoah County as Central travels to Strasburg for tonight’s doubleheader Game of the Week on Fox Sports Radio 1450 WFTR, theriver953.com and the Tune In Radio app starting at 5:50 pm.

The girls will get things started in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Bull Run District, both entering the evening at 12-2.

Both teams are led by superstars who get things done in different ways but usually end in wins.

Central’s Makenna Painter has dominated the paint and averaged over a double-double for three seasons.

She leads the are in rebounding with 15 per game and is closing in on the Central school record in rebounds.

She also reached her 1000th career point earlier this season and will leave Central as one of the top scorers in school history.

Strasburg will collapse their defense to try and take away Painter’s opportunities down low which will make it that much more important for some of her teammates to be able to knockdown shots from the outside.

Kynli Hoover has shown the ability to step up in those situations as she already claimed Central’s school record for three pointers in a game this season with seven against Page County at the Ram Hardwood Classic.

Strasburg is led by the area’s leader in scoring (Painter is second) and steals (Painter is second), Division-I bound Macy Smith.

Smith has stepped up in Strasburg’s biggest games this year including a win over Clarke County, the reigning Class 2 State Champions, where she scored a career high 37 points on 62.5% shooting.

She took over late scoring the final 14 points for Strasburg to secure the win.

Smith also led the Rams with 15 points to knock off the defending Class 1 State Champions, Rappahannock County.

When the boy’s take the floor, Strasburg will look to reach .500 entering at 7-8 overall while Central will search for their second district win at 3-10 overall.

Central started off the season winning two of their first three, both against Riverheads, before losing nine of the next ten.

The Falcons will use the past week off to try to turn their season around and could do so with the help of a few newcomers who have stepped up including Haiden Click and Dereck Batiz-Lugo.

Strasburg will continue to rely on the familiar names of Walker Conrad and Griffin Carter.

Conrad leads the area in rebounding with 10.9 per game to go with 15.3 points per game.

He joined Central head coach Jeff Whittle in the 1,000 point club against Warren County earlier this season.

Carter, his tight end counterpart on the football field, leads the area with 32 three pointers made.

The duo provides a strong one-two punch with Conrad drawing the defense in and leaving Carter open on the perimeter.

Strasburg will have the home crowd along with the star power of Conrad and Smith should give the Rams a clean sweep tonight with the girls winning 54-50 and the boys 58-50.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.