Millbrook’s Green Banks In Shot From Half Court To Stun Colonel Girls 73-70

Posted: January 24, 2015
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Although the play was executed opposite of the way Millbrook coach Kevin Barr drew it up, freshman guard Maddie Green made sure it still had the same effect.

Green’s 3-pointer from just beyond halfcourt banked in at the buzzer to give Millbrook a thrilling, hard-fought 73-70 Northwestern District girls’ basketball victory at Casey Gymnasium Friday night.

And it’s the second time Green, who scored 20 points, hit the game-winning shot to lift the Pioneers (13-5, 6-0 Northwestern) to a win over their Frederick County rivals. She scored the winning bucket on a layup in Millbrook’s 46-44 victory over James Wood (11-4, 2-3) back on Jan. 13.

“First off I want to give credit to James Wood — we get up 18 and for them to scrap and get back into it, I didn’t expect anything less from them because I know they’re a scrappy team and they’re never going to quit,” Barr said. “That last play really we drew up a play on the sideline and we totally ran to the opposite sides and we did it the reverse way that we were supposed to do it. I told them [in the locker room], ‘You ran it just the way I drew it up,’ and they all laughed and both of them knew they went to the wrong spots. They reversed spots. Lauren [Reed] should’ve gone ball side to get the inbounds pass, and we were going to throw it sideline to Maddie. But Maddie went to the ball and you know, Maddie’s Maddie. She makes big shots and she won the game for us the last time we played them.”

With 4.2 seconds left and the Pioneers inbounding the ball from underneath the Colonels’ basket, Millbrook’s Kelli White inbounded the ball to Green in front of the James Wood bench. Green dribbled toward the middle of the court before launching a shot from just beyond the half-court line and it banked in off the glass as time expired.

Green’s 3-pointer brought the Pioneer fans to their feet with a roar that filled the gym as Millbrook players swarmed Green near midcourt.

“I don’t know, I just felt it and I felt it was going in as soon as it left my hand,” said Green, of her 52-foot game-winner. “Last time [against the Colonels] but that [layup] was nothing like this. The layup wasn’t anything close to that.”

The fact that the game was close and ended the way it did showed just how much desire both teams had considering the Colonels trailed by as many as 18 in the first quarter but fought back throughout to take their first lead after junior Keiana Brooks hit a pair of free throws to put James Wood ahead 61-60 with 4:54 left to play.

The Colonels led by three after Kaitlyn Crane’s layup, but Millbrook used a 6-0 spurt to retake the lead, getting three straight layups from Green, Lauren Reed and Haile McDonald to take a 66-63 advantage with just under 2:00 remaining.

After trading buckets, Brooks hit the second of two free throws with 55 seconds left and then Green hit a pair of free throws to put Millbrook ahead 70-66 with 24.6 seconds to go.

Brooks then answered with a driving layup to make it a two-point game with 13.6 seconds remaining.

After Lauren Reed missed the front end of a one-and-one chance at the foul line with 5.9 seconds left, a loose-ball foul on McDonald — who was going for the rebound off Reed’s miss — sent Crane to the line with 4.2 seconds left.

Crane hit the first and the Pioneers called timeout. After the timeout, Crane (12 points) calmly knocked down the second, tying the game at 70.

Then Green made history repeat, knocking down her second game-winning shot in as many meetings with the Colonels.

“That was definitely the craziest fourth quarter I’ve been a part of and I’ve never lost a game with a half-court shot,” said Brooks, who scored a game-high 24 points to go along with seven rebounds, five steals and four assists. “I don’t know? I don’t know what to tell you because it happened so fast.

“... One thing I love about this team is that they have just so much heart. It’s not just one person it’s all of us and we fight.”

It didn’t look like the Colonels were going to put up much of a fight early as Millbrook opened the game with 11-unanswered points and led by as many as 18 after Lauren Reed knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Pioneers a 25-7 advantage with 35 seconds left in the quarter.

The Pioneers led by 17 after Tymber Minnick’s putback made it 31-14 three minutes into the second quarter, but James Wood answered with an 11-0 run, getting a big boost off the bench in the first half from sophomore Amanda Christian — who knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Millbrook’s lead to 31-25 with 3:10 remaining in the half.

The Colonels closed the first half on a 15-4 run that was capped by a steal and layup by Brooks to trim the Pioneers’ advantage to 35-29 at the break.

James Wood outrebounded Millbrook 45-26, getting a huge game inside from senior center Sarah Johnson, who finished with a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds (including 11 defensive boards).

“Rebounding-wise we didn’t do a very good job and they controlled us there,” Barr said. “They out-scrapped us in the paint and I think that was the biggest difference in them coming back and taking the lead.”

James Wood coach Krista Crites credited her team for overcoming an 18-point first-half deficit.

“I told them in the locker room I don’t care what the scoreboard says in my book, they won,” said Crites, who was battling the flu and wore a surgical mask during the game. “There’s not many teams down 18 points that’s going to come back within a buzzer beater.”

James Wood cut the Pioneer lead down to three after Crane’s layup off a nice pass from Rizzari made it 38-35 with 5:25 left in the third quarter, but Millbrook responded with five 3-pointers — two from freshman Erika Reed and one each from Lauren Reed, Green and Mia VanderToorn — to take a 57-48 lead into the final quarter.

Lauren Reed scored a team-high 22 points and had three steals, and Erika Reed added 12 points and three steals for the Pioneers.

“That was a big win for us,” Lauren Reed said. “We got up early and they came back on us so it was nice we were able to finish it there at the end.”

Barr said his team showed a lot of poise once James Wood took a one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

“Our composure to come back — our girls aren’t going to quit and they’re not scared to shoot the ball,” said Barr, whose team shot 9 for 19 from 3-point range. “It was just a heck of a game — one of the best high school games I think I’ve been a part of.”

Christian finished with 10 points (all in the first half) to give James Wood four players in double figures.

Note: Friday night’s game did not count for the Conference 21 standings because the first Millbrook-James Wood game on Jan. 13 was the conference matchup. Millbrook owns a 4-0 conference record and still faces Sherando, Woodgrove and Heritage in conference play. The team with the best conference record gets the automatic berth to the 4A North Regional tournament and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. The Colonels are 2-1 in conference play.

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