Skyline girls top Colonels

January 25, 2011

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- With Millbrook and Sherando sitting solidly atop the Northwestern District girls' basketball standings, the remaining three teams know that every game is critical in the race for third place - and for any hopes of overtaking the Warriors for second.

And perhaps no game was more important to James Wood and Skyline than Monday night's makeup game at Shirley Gymnasium, where both teams sought their first district win of the season.

Skyline got that long-awaited victory, as three Hawks scored in double figures and Taylor Henry's big second-half performance led her team to a 54-46 come-from-behind road win.

"There really isn't any bad team in our district," Skyline coach Jim Kenney said. "Our district is strong top to bottom, and every district game is very important, especially for James Wood, Handley, and us. Sherando is playing really well this season, and Millbrook goes without saying. It's a dogfight for the third spot." Henry scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the second half and spearheaded a 14-2 run to end the third quarter, which turned the game around.

Trailing 32-26 with 3:48 left in the third, Henry started the run by knocking down a 3-pointer to close the gap to three. On the next trip, freshman Jenny Norman grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back in to make it 32-31.

After Wood's Shannan Thorne scored in the paint to push the lead back to three, the Hawks continued their run.

Oshene Kelly hit a free throw followed, by back-to-back hoops by Henry to give the Hawks (11-5, 1-2) the lead for good.

Kristina Salazar and Kelly scored on the next two possessions to complete the run and give the Hawks a 40-34 lead at the end of the quarter.

"Taylor stepped up. She made some assists, she found people when she needed to find them," Kenney said. "I was real happy with the girls, they came out and competed, but we've got to be able to shoot the ball better, 30 percent is not gonna get it done, and 27 turnovers is not good."

James Wood (8-9, 0-4) closed the gap to two points on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the last coming at the 2:17 mark on another Thorne layup that made it 46-44. But the Colonels couldn't get over the hump.

Over the next few possessions the the Colonels had several opportunities to either tie the game or take the lead, but they were unable to convert, mostly because of turnovers. With each giveaway, more time was lost on the clock, forcing Wood to foul and put the Hawks on the line.

"That seems to be our calling this season, turnovers have been an integral part to our offense," James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. "It's just frustrating. They did a nice job of closing down on Shannan and we weren't able to get the ball to her, and we don't have anybody that's willing to attack the basket or take the outside shot.

"I think we lack experience out front, and these girls lack a little bit of confidence [to take the shot]. ... It's part of our game that we'll have to work on the rest of the season."

Skyline didn't have a great night from the free-throw line, but when the game was on the line, the Hawks were up to the task. In the final 1:36, Skyline hit 6 of 8 free throws, including 4 of 6 by Henry, who also had a field goal during that stretch.

The game was close throughout the first half, where there were three ties and no lead bigger than six points for either team. Skyline led 12-8 after the first quarter but Wood was able to trim the deficit to one (23-22) at the break.

"We started out slow," Kenney said. "I thought James Wood in the first half played really well, I gotta hand it to them. They took Taylor out of the game, they ran a little box-and-one, and it took us a while to adjust to that. The first half was extremely competitive, as was the second half."

Thorne registered yet another double-double for the Colonels, finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds. With each rebound she pulls down from here on out she'll be adding to her own school record which now stands at 683. (She recently broke Haley Smith's mark of 640, an honor that was recognized on the PA system after the game.)

Thorne was the only Colonel in double figures but Halley DeHaven and Erica Hepner each scored eight points, and Sarah Callaham added seven.

For Skyline, Salazar scored 13 points and Kelly chipped in 11.