Manchester Girls Basketball came away with a sensational win on March 7 over Thomas Dale at Monacan. The two schools were facing each other in the state semifinal after winning their quarter final matchups on Friday, March 3rd. It was a rematch of the regional final, in which the Thomas Dale Knights defeated the Manchester Lancers by just 3 points, in a game in which the Knights were the favorite to win considering they had lost just one game in the entire season.

The first half of the game seemed to confirm the predictions: after a 3pt shot that gave to the Lancers the lead in the very first seconds, the game started to become very tough for Manchester, as the girls had difficulties both shooting and passing. On the other side, Thomas Dale was more precise at shooting and played  great defense, ending the first half in their favor, by a 12-26 margin.

In the second half, the game completely changed as Lancers finally started to play like they had all year. Their 3pts shots got better and better an

d the defense played great. By the end of the 3rd period, Manchester had already recovered from the halftime deficit and were leading by one point. The comeback was officially completed in the fourth period, lending a final result of 59-45. The Lancers outscored Thomas Dale by 28 points in the second half.

At the end of the game, Manchester supporters celebrated the win together with the cheerleaders, hoping to do the same in the state championship, where Manchester will play James Madison at VCU on March 10.