A large set of balloons, including two that spelled out ‘1-8’ were clearly visible in the main stands of WCA’s varsity boys basketball game last night against the Millwood School. The person holding them? Wilnette Radcliffe, mom of Dexter Radcliffe, the team’s leader and top scorer in the Metro Conference. She also brought WCA color themed cupcakes. The occasion? Why it was Dexter’s 18th birthday party, and the team gave him a very special gift: a win!

Dexter played a large part in his present, of course, as the team’s leading scorer with 27 of the team’s points in the 63-56 win, including a thunderous slam dunk at the buzzer to end the game.

The prospects of victory throughout this game, however, were never clear. There were over a dozen lead changes in the game, and the team actually trailed at the half. But the Eagles led a furious charge to start the second half, including several three-pointers by point guard Kivinie Johnson, who finished with 16 points on the night. The Eagles at one point had pushed the lead out to 12 points, but the Bobcats battled back to tie the game several times in the fourth quarter. Leading by just one point with under a minute to play, the Eagles turned the ball over out of bounds, giving Millwood a chance to take the lead. Fortunately, Millwood made a costly error of their own, throwing a pass out of bounds. Connor Simmons made a key layup as time ticked down. Kivinie again made two clutch free throws to put the game out of reach. Radcliffe, as previously mentioned, recovered a long rebound with an open court ahead of him with just seconds to go, and streaked down the court for the finishing slam dunk.

The team heads to Chesapeake tonight for a road game versus Stonebridge, as the team commences a long stretch of Metro Conference play. Game time is 6PM.