James Wood 53, Clarke County 25

BERRYVILLE — During the seven-year tenure of James Wood girls’ basketball head coach Krista Crites, the Colonels have often relied on their half-court zone defense to get the job done.

Thursday night’s season-opener against Clarke County showed that opponents better be prepared for action as soon as the ball is inbounded no matter where they are on the court.

With James Wood applying pressure and traps, the Colonels jumped out to an 11-0 lead after just two minutes and six seconds in a 54-25 win over the Eagles. (Multiple official scoring errors resulted in a different score than what was on the scoreboard on Thursday.)

James Wood took advantage of several Clarke County turnovers to jump out to a 19-8 lead after one quarter, and the Colonels would force 19 more over the final three quarters to keep the Eagles at bay.

Clarke County (1-1) — which trailed by double digits for the last 28 minutes — made only 7 of 28 shots in the final three quarters. James Wood led 30-13 at halftime and steadily increased its lead over the course of the second half.

“Our press is something we’ve really worked on, and I think speeding up the tempo kind of threw them out of their rotation, which is what we wanted to do,” James Wood coach Krista Crites said. “I try to tell my girls all the time, you might not always get steals, but the deflections, and making them uncomfortable, is just as good.

“I think they’re finally buying into that. We have a good core group of girls, and I have a deep bench, which helps a lot.”

All 12 James Wood players got into the game, and they all got into the game fairly early.

Though reigning Winchester Star Player of the Year Makayla Firebaugh dominated early by scoring the first nine points of the game (one on a 3-pointer), seven James Wood players accounted for the last 21 points of the first half for the Colonels.

“When we have to put fresh legs in, we really don’t miss a beat with that,” Crites said. “I can put fresh legs in and we can still press, which isn’t something we’ve had in the past.”

And James Wood also showed it can thrive without the Division I Rider signee Firebaugh.

The senior guard scored a game-high 14 points (a corrected total from Friday’s print edition) and had six steals despite leaving the game for good 40 seconds into the second half as a precaution.

Firebaugh had to be helped off the court after suffering a leg injury with 18 seconds left in the first half while going for a rebound. She returned for the start of the second half but grimaced after stealing a ball at halfcourt and missed an open layup. Crites took Firebaugh out moments later.

Not surprisingly, it was senior guard/forward Brenna Prunty who carried the Colonels in the scoring column with Firebaugh out of the game. Prunty — who averaged 12.6 points per game while earning first team All-Class 4 Northwestern District honors like Firebaugh last year — scored eight of her 12 points (a corrected point total from Friday’s edition) in the third quarter as James Wood extended its lead from 17 to 23 at 44-21.

“It was definitely a scary moment [when Firebaugh got hurt],” said Prunty, who had seven of her nine rebounds after the first quarter. “I knew I needed to step it up a little bit in the third quarter.”

Crites said she was impressed with how her team played without Firebaugh.

“They could have folded, and they didn’t,” Crites said. “They picked each other up and moved on and played a great second half.

“We’re more than just Makayla. Brenna’s a great basketball player. I thought [point guard] Jenny Kerns handled the ball well and ran the offense well. And everybody was rebounding. It was a group effort.”

James Wood outrebounded Clarke County 38-24 over the final three quarters. Brooklyn Crate (nine points) and Sue Carter each totaled seven rebounds for the game.

Except for free-throw shooting (the Colonels were 14 of 31 from the line, though Crate hit 5 of 6 in the fourth quarter), James Wood showed why it will be a team to be reckoned with in a lot of ways Thursday night.

“I like the connectivity that we all have,” Firebaugh said. “We all get along with each other and play well together.”

“I feel like it was clear that our team has really good chemistry,” said Prunty, who also had six steals and three assists. “I still think we have a lot of growing to do but we definitely have a really strong defense. I think that was a good team win together.”

Also for James Wood, Kerns had four steals and three assists and Brynna Nesselrodt had seven points and three steals.

Clarke CountyThe Class 2 Eagles came into Thursday’s game on the heels of an impressive 51-44 win over Class 3 Broadway on Monday, but Clarke County coach Regina Downing said James Wood’s pressure put the Eagles in a hole they simply could not climb out of.

“They sped us up, and we just threw the ball away,” Downing said. “We never got into a rhythm. They sped us up and we got all out of sync. We went against everything we worked on. We were just not us tonight.”

Clarke County did play solidly on defense after James Wood’s 11-0 start. The Colonels made only 11 of 41 field goals over the final three quarters (26.8 percent), though the Colonels helped offset that some with their ability to rebound and get to the line.

“Once we settled down and started taking care of the basketball better, I thought we played really well,” Downing said. “We were able to get some stops.

“There’s just a lot of little things we’ve got to work on. Taking care of the basketball is the most important thing.”

The Eagles were led on Thursday by Alison Sipe, whose 10 points were omitted from Friday’s print edition, and Raegan Owens (6 points, corrected from Friday’s print edition).

“Alison Sipe played really well for us tonight,” Downing said.

Downing said Monday’s win showed the type of team the Eagles can be.

“We played very well against Broadway,” Downing said. “They were a very good, physical team. They played zone against us a lot and we shot the ball well.

“And we played well on defense. I think that’s going to be our strength. If we can get some turnovers and that gets us in transition, we should be able to do some things.”