SHERANDO GIRLS COAST PAST WOOD, 92-41

January 25, 2012
By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- In their first meeting of the season the Sherando girls' basketball team scored 100 points on James Wood and coasted to an easy 32-point victory.

Tuesday night the Colonels were determined not to let that happen again, and for the first five minutes of the game their determination and adjustments from the first contest showed they were ready for the rematch.

However, a flurry of 3-pointers late in the first quarter by the Warriors sparked a 37-5 run that lasted the remainder of the first half and completely changed the landscape of the contest, carrying the Warriors to another convincing Northwestern District victory, this time 92-41, over rival James Wood at Wood's Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium. "We executed early and shot the ball well from 3-point range," Sherando coach Kevin Reed said. "We kept the pressure up and got some turnovers. We wanted to work on things that we need to do to get better, and we wanted to do a better job on the offensive glass.

"This win was a combination of things. They're a district opponent, but there's such a rich history between Wood and Sherando. This was the last time our seniors would play in this gym and we wanted to send them out the right way."

The first quarter was back and forth with neither team gaining much of an advantage.

Wood jumped out to a quick two-point lead before Allison Boespflug hit the first of six first quarter 3-pointers to give the Warriors their first lead of the night at 5-4.

James Wood (8-7 overall, 1-3 district) battled back and took its biggest lead of the night when Sarah Callaham hit a layup to make it 10-7 with 4:35 left in the first.

Boespflug answered by drilling her second 3-pointer to tie it and senior classmate Morgan Sirbaugh scored on a fast-break layup to push the Warriors back in front 12-10.

Unfazed the Colonels responded again. Erica Hepner's offensive rebound and stick back tied the game again and 30 seconds later Miranda Moore scored in the paint to give the Colonels the lead 14-12 with 2:44 left in the first period, but it would be their last lead of the night.

On the next trip down the floor freshman Erin Magalis buried a 3-pointer that gave the Warriors the lead for good at 15-14.

It was the first of four straight 3-pointers by the Warriors from three different players and led to a 13-0 run.

"The 3-pointer is a momentum changer," Reed said. "If you string three or four together it really deflates a team and we play off of that. We tell them, 'If you're open you shoot.'"

The Colonels were able to hit a free throw before the quarter expired but found themselves trialing 25-15 after the first eight minutes, and that was only the beginning.

Sherando (12-5, 4-1) continued the run over the entire second period. Though they only hit one more 3-pointer in the second quarter they dominated from everywhere else on the floor and outscored the Colonels 24-4 for a commanding 49-19 halftime advantage.

In the second quarter the Colonels struggled in all phases offensively. A combination of missed shots and turnovers led to them not scoring any field goals and hitting only 4-of-8 free throws in the quarter.

"I felt we came out really strong, we made some changes from the last game," James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. "The first quarter was excellent, then we fell down into a trap that it was going to work every time and didn't make any adjustments when Sherando did. Then the 3-pointers didn't help any, that's tough. After that Sherando outhustled us."

Any hopes of a miracle second half comeback by the Colonels were quickly put to rest. Sherando started the third quarter on a 9-2 run, extending the lead to 58-21 and it would eventually reach 41 points in the quarter two different times.

With the outcome of the game no longer in doubt, the Warriors weren't content and wanted to show that they were even better then what they showed in the first contest.

Though the Warriors scored 100 in that game, they allowed the Colonels to score 68 points, including 29 forth quarter points, which didn't sit well with the team.

"The last time we played James Wood we gave up 29 fourth quarter points so we wanted to make sure we were in defenses to make ourselves successful," said Sirbaugh, who had a game-high 32 points. "To get this win tonight it's huge. I'm proud of how we played. In the first quarter we got on that roll that put us ahead and we fed off of that.

"We're very happy [with where we are right now] but we can't get settled in. We have to finish competing in the district and if we can get out of the district we're still going to compete."

In additon to Sirbaugh's big night Boespflug and Hakel also scored in double figures with 17 and 16 respectively.

James Wood was led by Miranda Moore's eight points and Hepner with seven. Callaham and Whitney Dick each chipped in with six points.