RICHMOND — For each of the previous two years, a visit to VCU’s Siegel Center for Salem’s girls basketball team has been a one-way ride.

This time, the Spartans came back with a ticket.

Not to worry. It’s the good kind. One that has been stamped “return trip.”

Salem reached its first state final Wednesday as the Spartans notched a dominating 51-38 Group AA Division 4 semifinal victory over Loudoun County.

Salem (25-3) will return to Richmond on Saturday to play Courtland in a 7 p.m. championship game, to be immediately followed by the Spartans boys team in its final against Grafton.

“It’s awesome,” Salem senior Kim Migliarese said. “It’s our senior year. We’ve been here. This is such a great feeling. We’ve worked so hard for this all year long.”

Salem’s path to the final has been a three-year journey. The Spartans reached the semifinals each of the previous two years but both seasons ended with blowout losses.

This time, Salem caused the hurt instead of feeling it.

The Spartans never trailed and built as much as a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter. Wake Forest signee Tay Taylor scored a game-high 24 points, while 6-foot-1 center Tessa Foley — the third senior starter for Salem — grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the River Ridge District champions.

Salem held Loudoun County (24-6) to 17.9 percent shooting in the second half and 25.5 percent for the game.

“Today was all about Salem,” Loudoun County coach Derek Fisher said. “They played a lot better than we
did.

“There was no question coming in that we were going to have to play well to beat an experienced team with a really special player. We just didn’t play well enough. Attribute that to them.”

Taylor scored 14 points in the first half, but she picked up her third personal foul with 3:34 left before the break. Coach DeWayne Harrell used dead-ball situations to substitute his star in and out of the game and it paid dividends.

Taylor scored four points in the last three minutes as Salem took a 23-19 halftime lead.

Harrell said Taylor, Foley and Migliarese all are accustomed to playing with three fouls.

“That’s been all year with all three of them,” Harrell said. “They stay in. I try to go offense-defense. They’ve been around for awhile. They understand what it takes to stay in the game without fouling out.”

Salem led 25-22 early in the third quarter before the Spartans scored on five straight possessions to build a 35-22 lead.

Taylor scored three buckets on a pull-up jumper in the lane, a one-handed runner and a left-handed drive, adjusting her game because of her foul trouble.

“I just knew I had to play smarter,” Taylor said. “I knew the tempo of the game and how the referees were going to call fouls.”

Salem’s other two baskets during the run came from sophomore reserve forward Beth Plympton, one on a feed from Taylor and the other an offensive rebound. Plympton finished with eight points and eight rebounds as the Spartans bench produced 14 points.

“She started last year as a freshman, but I try to give her a little more space and not start her,” Harrell said. “She feels more comfortable not starting. She’s done a good job all year, small rebounds and putting it back up there.”

Loudoun County responded to its desperate straits by firing up long 3-pointers. Most were off the mark. The Raiders were 2 of 16 from behind the arc.

Loudoun County center Maggie Phillips, a member of the Loudoun County volleyball team that won the Group AA state championship on the same floor in November, gave high marks to Salem’s defense.

“Every single player knows how to read an offense,” Phillips said.

“They all helped on every person’s drive. You just go in there and there will be hands on you at all times. They never let up.”

With one of Loudoun County’s twin towers of Chloe Knox or Phillips on the perimeter, Foley had plenty of space on the defensive boards. She swept 12 of her 15 rebounds on that end.

“That helped a lot,” Foley said. “If they’re both down there, then I really have to work to get the rebound. If they weren’t there, I just jumped up and grabbed it.”

Foley also hammered home the final nail early in the fourth quarter. Salem inbounded the ball on the far end and somehow Foley outran everyone and scored on a feed from Maddie Price and converted a free throw for a 42-26 lead with 7:11 to play.

On a day when heavy snow blanketed the streets of Richmond, the Spartans began warming up the bus for the trek back to the Roanoke Valley.

This time, there will be a return trip.

“The last two years weren’t great feelings going home for three hours,” Taylor said. “We looked at this game as if we wanted it. We wanted to get revenge on this game.”

LOUDOUN COUNTY (24-6)

Knox 2-10 1-4, Tibbits 0-4 0-2 0, Phillips 3-10 6-8 12, Gillis 1-6 0-1 2, Paige 4-12 1-3 9, Gianelos 2-5 0-0 4, Kushner 1-2 0-0 2, Brenneman 0-1 0-0 0, Szoka 0-0 0-0 0, Van Nuys 0-0 2-2 2, Bowers 0-1 0-0 0, Sarver 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-51 10-20 42.

SALEM (25-3)

Dishaw 0-3 0-0 0, K.Migliarese 2-3 3-4 7, T.Foley 1-7 4-7 6, Price 0-4 0-0 0, Taylor 10-23 4-7 24, Plympton 3-8 2-2 8, Rich 0-1 0-0 0, M.Migliarese 0-0 0-0 0, M.Foley 1-1 0-0 2, Dennis 0-1 2-2 2, Dixon 0-0 0-2 0, Maxwell 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-52 15-24 51.

Loudoun County 10 9 7 12 —38

Salem 13 10 14 14 —51

3-point-goals — Loudoun County 2-16 (Kushner 1-2, Knox 1-8, Paige 0-1, Phillips 0-1, Tibbits 0-1, Brenneman 0-1, Gillis 0-2), Salem 0-4 (Price 0-1, Rich 0-1, Taylor 0-2). Rebounds — Loudoun County 42 (Phillips 10), Salem 45 (T.Foley 15). Assists — Loudoun County 7 (Gianelos 2), Salem 9 (Price, K.Migliarese 3). Total fouls — Loudoun County 17, Salem 18. Fouled out — T.Foley.

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