For teams other than Woodgrove — which has averaged 76.9 points per 32-minute game in a state with a shot clock, the most of any Northern Virginia public school girls’ team in at least five years — a scoring burst of this ilk would have been novel. But to those in the program, this is basketball that makes sense.

This is the style, they say, that fits Gen Z, that maximizes the strengths of modern athletes and adjusts to the personalities and athletic background of today’s teenager.

“I mean, any day I get to step on a basketball court is fun,” Shores said. “But, like Coach says, once you go fast, you can’t go back.”

Ever since Woodgrove Coach Derek Fisher first worked with up-tempo guru and Lake Braddock boys’ coach Brian Metress, he has leaned into this philosophy. You shoot quickly. You have a green light. Buy-in comes easy.

But criticism of an offense-first approach comes often.

“Some people think that’s almost like a character flaw,” Fisher said. “We take pride in the fact that we’re an offensive team.”

First and foremost, Fisher said, success at their speed is a credit to their roster. Shores (Stony Brook) and Nice (Radford) are bound for Division I hoops. Two more teammates are Division I commits in other sports; several underclassmen are skilled beyond their age.

But the Wolverines’ calculation isn’t just a bet on this year. A handful of local coaches reasoned that the average varsity athlete is more skilled, creative and athletic in 2024 than any generation that preceded it, attributing those superlatives to an increase in outside training and a younger start at AAU.

That’s conducive, Fisher said, to a read-and-react system. But, he said, more outside voices also have made it harder for players to learn intricate, set-based systems. That’s fine by him: It just wouldn’t be feasible, nor fair, to ask his players to learn a complicated scheme replete with set plays in just a handful of months together. Most coaches, for instance, have gradually scaled back their number of out-of-bounds plays in recent years.

“It’s not a bunch of set plays that you can learn or plan for; it’s kind of just us running around and playing fast,” Nice said. “A lot of teams can probably keep up with it for a half, and then after that we kind of just do our thing.”

Hidden in the iPad of assistant coach Todd Turner is another secret to the Wolverines’ success: data.

Data, he reiterates, that his players don’t need to see. Though this is one of the smartest teams he has coached, he knows it’s difficult to thrive at Woodgrove’s pace if numbers or personal statistics are on players’ minds. It was a common refrain from coaches with an analytical background, including Woodgrove boys’ coach Konstantine Papastergiou: the less players have to think and the more they go off instinct, the better.

Rather than tell his players to hit 80 possessions per game, Fisher tells them to play faster. Rather than show them their points per possession on sideline out-of-bounds plays, he’ll tweak plays in practice. He knows which shots lead to more rebounds for his team. He uses every piece of tracking data Hudl has to offer and wishes even more statistics were at his disposal. Like his favorite MLB team, the Tampa Bay Rays, he’s analytically driven and, crucially, does not abandon the philosophy no matter the score.

“I’ve gotten to the point where, if we won 32 to 30, I don’t think I’d be happy,” Fisher joked.

This is all to say Woodgrove isn’t driven by data and pace alone. There’s the joy of Shores, who returned to her first high school after a year at private school power Paul VI. There’s the enhanced mental approach of Nice, who missed her sophomore year with an injury and returned with a new love of the game and an understanding of spacing after watching from the bench. Senior Teagan Lowery is integral to the culture. Amaya Ramey has become one of the top freshmen in the area. Sophomore Lyla Brown has become the most consistent scorer after Shores and Nice.

The Wolverines, like most top public school teams, focus on habits that will translate late in the postseason. This late January win didn’t quite replicate the night in December when Nice scored 40 points in a half, but teammates still found her in transition. They didn’t keep their foot on the gas, but they tried to force bad shots. In the name of sportsmanship, Fisher sent Shores out for only a brief spell in the second half and told her not to shoot. They looked for new ways to get open looks and, four days later, broke the single-game state record with 18 three-pointers.

What is clear: They’re ready to test their booming offense against the best.

“That was the thing when we lost to the [defending] Arizona state champions earlier this year,” Fisher said. “They reached a level I didn’t know we could hit. These kids love to compete.”

“Oh, my God, I love it,” Nice said. “I’m going to miss it.”