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.