After winning the Tidewater District tournament last week, and narrowly defeating Essex in Tuesday night’s opening round of regional play, the Mathews High School girls’ varsity basketball team faces Lancaster tonight in the Region A Division 2 quarterfinals.

The Red Devils will travel to Mathews for a 6 o’clock tipoff, with the winner advancing to the semifinal round. If Mathews beats Lancaster tonight and goes on to win in the next round, the MHS girls will earn a berth in the state playoffs.

In last week’s district tournament, the Lady Blue Devils routed both King William and Middlesex to claim the crown, beating the Cavaliers, 47-21, and the Chargers, 48-20.

In last Wednesday’s semifinal against King William, the Lady Blue Devils wasted little time establishing their dominance over the Cavaliers. Using an overpowering defense, Mathews jumped out to a 25-1 halftime lead, never looking back as the girls won by 26 points.

Mackenzie Moughon led Mathews in scoring with 11 points, followed by Emily Brown with nine points. Taylor Denton contributed six points while Shelby Ware and Shanice Williams added five points each. Rounding out the scoring were Jessi Nelson and Hannah Rowe with four points each and Taylor South with three.

Waiting for the Lady Blue Devils in Friday’s championship game were their rivals from Middlesex. In their previous two regular season contests, Mathews defeated the Lady Chargers in fairly close games, so anything different would be a surprise for the number-one seeded Lady Devils.

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