Millbrook's defense fuels girls' win over James Wood

WINCHESTER — Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky is considered the first to offer up the wisdom that “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

The Millbrook girls’ basketball plays with kind of a twist on that adage — you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t get.

The Pioneers, with a stifling half-court zone trap, showed that once again in a key Class 4 Northwestern District matchup against James Wood on Friday. Millbrook forced 28 turnovers and was able to capitalize on many of them in a 70-48 win over the Colonels at Casey Gymnasium.

Freshman Avery O’Roke scored a game-high 22 points and Emily Magee added 16 off the bench as the defending state champions (13-2, 6-0) remained unbeaten in the district.

“Our approach as a team is to trap the ball and just get tips,” explained Magee, who had nine points in the second quarter as the Pioneers took control. “Then we get the steals from the tips and then we get the layups.”

“We work very hard on defense and I think it shows on the court,” O’Roke added.

James Wood coach Krista Crites said it was plainly the difference on Friday.

“It was just the turnovers,” Crites said. “Turnovers killed us. We did everything we were supposed to do. We held their bigs to what we were supposed to do. We kept them off the boards. We just turned the ball over way too much. That’s the whole difference in the game.”

While his teams have rolled up big numbers on the scoreboard over the previous two seasons, Millbrook coach Erick Green Sr. said it’s been defense that has fueled a run to the state semifinals and a Class 4 title.

“Since I’ve been here, that’s our style of basketball,” Green said. “We are going to apply pressure. We are going to come at you different ways. You never know who’s coming at you. That’s Millbrook basketball.”

But it was Millbrook that was put on the defensive for most of the first quarter.

James Wood (9-4, 3-2) handled the Pioneers’ fullcourt press and when the Colonels broke it the result was a layup. Brenna Prunty’s layup off a dish from Makayla Firebaugh gave the Colonels a 12-6 lead with 2½ minutes left in the quarter.

“I give James Wood a lot of credit,” Green said. “They and St. James [who defeated the Pioneers] made the really good adjustments at being able to handle the pressure. I give them credit.”

Millbrook was able to get out of the quarter even with the Colonels as O’Roke’s bucket with two seconds left squared the contest at 14-14.

In the second period, the Pioneers switched to their trapping half-court zone. Magee opened the period with a steal and layup, triggering an 11-0 run.

The key to the defense is the Pioneers’ aggressiveness and length. Millbrook has no player smaller than 5-foot-8 on the floor, while James Wood had only two players taller than that.

At 6-1, Magee deflected several passes that resulted in layups.

“We broke the press,” Crites said. “It’s that zone. It’s stifling and they were very disciplined in it.”

With four players 5-10 or taller on the floor for Millbrook, Crites said it’s hard to replicate their defense in practice.

“It is because we don’t have the length up top that they do,” she said. “We have the guards to simulate, but we don’t have the length on our second team to simulate what they have on their first team. It’s hard to prepare for something like that.”

After the initial burst, James Wood got within 25-19, with four minutes to go in the quarter, but never got closer. Magee scored seven points down the stretch and Ali Hauck’s layup at the buzzer gave Millbrook a 36-21 lead at the half.

O’Roke, who had 12 points at the break, added six points in the third quarter as Millbrook forced 10 turnovers and pulled out to s 54-33 lead.

O’Roke, a freshman, continued her string of impressive games of late.

“Avery had a great game,” Crites said. “She is a great point guard.”

Green said O’Roke is starting to show the skills he’s seen since he has been coaching her since she was in elementary school.

“For a freshman, she has stepped up and she is becoming a leader,” Green said. “She is becoming a true point guard. Early in the season, I don’t think she was being aggressive. She was being passive. I knew how she could play.

“Now, she has stepped her game up. She’s showing everybody what she is capable of. She is an outstanding ball player. She’s just a freshman and she has a lot more to learn. That’s a good thing about it — she wants to learn.”

O’Roke said it has been an adjustment stepping into the Millbrook lineup.

“It definitely takes a lot of work,” she said. “You have to come to practice prepared an ready to work. ... It’s very different. It’s a faster pace than any basketball I’ve ever played. It’s just something I had to get used to.”

Millbrook’s lead grew as large as 66-39 with just under four minutes remaining. Hauck added 13 points for the district leaders.

Prunty led James Wood, which had a seven-game winning streak snapped, with 13 points. Area scoring leader Makayla Firebaugh was held to nine points, 15 below her average. Firebaugh, saddled with foul trouble, fouled out with 5:10 remaining.

Crites said her team, one of only three teams with winning records in district play, can contend with the Pioneers if they can hold onto the ball.

“We know that we can play with them,” she said. “We knew if we turned the ball over that was going to be the outcome. I thought my kids worked hard. They rebounded and got them into foul trouble. They did well in their man-to-man. They forced turnovers. [Millbrook] just forced more turnovers.”

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