Picking up where they left off, the Seneca Valley Screamin’ Eagles (4-1) were an offensive machine on Thursday against the Quince Orchard Cougars (3-4). After defeating the Northwest Jaguars 77-14 on Tuesday, they took down the Cougars, 73-21.
To combat the speed and ball-handling of the Screamin’ Eagles, their Gaithersburg opponent deployed a 2-3 zone, highlighted by 6’4” junior Evelyn Steele in the middle. But the Germantown starters didn’t need to get in the paint to put up points.
Instead, rapid passes fractured the zone defense and three-point shooting from senior Destiny Smith, junior Mina Hashemzadeh and Nia Hall put up a rapid 9-0 run.
After the Cougars found their first bucket of the game from junior Ishani Maheshwari, the Screamin’ Eagles found two more three-pointers, another from Hashemzadeh and the fifth from sophomore Jayden Addison. As the first quarter ended, the Screamin’ Eagles found themselves up, 23-4.
“Whenever teams go to the two [three zone], we’re fortunate enough to have shooters on the wings,” said Seneca Valley Head Coach Ali Hashemzadeh and Mina’s father. “[Our] all vision is just getting better by the night. I’m really impressed with the ball movement on the perimeter.”
Defensively, Ali Hashemzadeh pushed his defenders with a full-court press. The results paid dividends as they pressured the Cougars into errors and transitioned them into points. The hounding defense helped supply the Screamin’ Eagles with another flurry, even with the shooting from behind the arc cooling.

They rallied for 12-straight points before the Cougars found their third basket of the game, 4.5 minutes into the quarter. The half ended with a lopsided 40-6 score.
“Destiny Smith, she’s really the bully out there. She plays and she always gets the tough assignments,” Hashemzadeh said. “She’s really wide, she’s got great size and she’s just physical at the point of attack and gets a lot of turnovers, and she can finish on them. Jayden Addison, she’s probably the most athletic girl I’ve coached in a long time—if ever. And she’s young. We call her ‘Baby Jayden,’ by the way. But she can leap through the building, and she makes smart basketball decisions.”
While the Screamin’ Eagles were up by more than 30, Hashemzadeh wasn’t allowing his players to relax or get comfortable.
“It’s all love,” Smith said. “He’s just passionate about us playing the game. So, it’s just like you take it in and go with it.”
Hashemzadeh talked about the relationship he has with the players and how they continue to be coachable and work hard when up on the scoreboard.
“We talk about regardless of who we’re playing, we got to play at a high level if we want to achieve our goals this year. So, whoever is in front of us, we got to play as hard as we possibly can,” Mina Hashemzadeh said. “This team right here, they have the makeup of not only one of the most athletic [teams I’ve coached], but their basketball IQ is through the roof. I can switch and transition without calling timeouts. They’re just very smart basketball players.”
Four Screamin’ Eagles finished in double figures; Addison (19), Hashemzadeh (15), Smith (13) and junior Brielle Watson, who scored 11 points and had the challenge of defending Steele on the other end.
“I like having someone that’s going to be out there and challenge me,” Watson said. “[Steele’s] talented, she gets rebounds, but I like to challenge. I like to be physical.”
Coach Hashemzadeh shared it’s been a fun stretch for the team, and it’s something he’s learned to embrace as opposed to having the team focus solely on basketball.
“…I made a concerted effort to make sure that – it’s about high school basketball. They’re supposed to enjoy this experience. … While it’s important to win basketball games, it’s more important for them to create an experience that they can recollect and have that memory for a long time to come,” Hashemzadeh said. “Now, if that’s a championship run, that’s a championship run. If it’s a great regular season, it’s a great regular season.”