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Five Montgomery County players —Bethesda-Chevy Chase's Bria White, Kennedy's Sunny Conway-Flores and Alicia Hall, Seneca Valley's Kelsey Wolfe and Stone Ridge's Elizabeth Hyde — have earned the first of two possible nominations for the McDonald's All American High School Basketball Games.

Roughly 870 candidates nationwide made the preliminary cut for the eighth-annual game, scheduled for March 31 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The final 24-player team will be announced 5:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPNU.

According to a McDonald's press release, the players were chosen by a committee of "23 prominent basketball experts, including nationally-renowned coaches and top high school sports journalists."

-During Kennedy's 80-24 rout of Rockville, Hall tallied her 1,000th point with the Silver Spring school, finishing with 17 for the game. Conway-Flores led all scorers with 24, her sixth game with 20 or more.

Hall led the Cavaliers in scoring a year ago, but the addition of Conway-Flores has turned the team into a winner. A Springbrook transfer in her first year with the team, the senior guard is averaging a shade over 18 points per night.

As a result, Kennedy (12-5) has already tripled its win total from a year ago.

-After her 17-point performance Jan. 27, Einstein forward Hayes Linebaugh said she "probably could score more."

The words quickly proved prophetic. Six days after her single-game high, the 6-foot-1 junior exploded for 28, complemented with 15 rebounds, in the Titans' 69-61 victory over Wheaton.

Since returning from a knee injury, Linebaugh has averaged 13.3 points per game — compared to the seven she averaged beforehand — to help turn Einstein's season around. It has won five of its last eight after starting the year with eight straight losses.

According to Titans head coach Timothy Hobbs, she now leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists, and ranks second in steals.

"She's so carefree and such a wonderful kid, and I don't think she realizes how much potential she has," Hobbs said. "For a kid that's pushing 6-1, she can shoot, she can handle the ball; when someone brings pressure, Hayes is the point guard. I sat her about half the third quarter against Wheaton when she had four fouls, and for one of the first times ever I told her, ‘If you just take the ball to the basket, you will dominate this game.' I think she scored about 14 in the fourth."

Quote of the week:

"I mean, this is the year. I'm trying to do all I can this year because I don't know when I'm going to have two next-level players like this again." — Kennedy head coach Kevin Thompson, on Conway-Flores and Hall.