Posted: January 12, 2013
By ROBERT STOCKS

WINCHESTER — A two-point advantage over James Wood at the half probably wasn’t how Millbrook girls’ basketball coach Debby Sanders envisioned her team would respond after its first district loss in almost five years.

So it’s a safe bet the Pioneers heard a spirited lecture from Sanders, who said she definitely didn’t like what she saw from her team through the first 16 minutes.

“A pep talk — we’ll call it a pep talk,” said Sanders, when asked what she told her players during the break. “We just needed to do what we do. We work on the shell drill [a drill designed to help teams improve their defensive positioning and formations] every single day and we’re not getting help.

“It’s been obvious the past couple days. We’re not sprinting. If we start sprinting and bring up the intensity, then we’re playing the style of play we’re used to. In the second half we finally started doing that.”

Whatever Sanders told her players at the half, the Pioneers responded, taking control of the contest with a 20-point third quarter en route to a 59-46 district victory over James Wood at Casey Gymnasium Friday night. Millbrook honored three seniors — Brooke Borlie, Ky Rooks and Ashley Goodman — on Senior Night and they combined for 33 points. Borlie scored a game-high 18, junior Brenna Cook added 16 and Rooks also finished in double figures with 13.

Millbrook (11-2, 2-1) held a 26-24 advantage at the half, but the Pioneers turned the pressure up on defense, forcing the Colonels (7-5, 0-2) to commit six early turnovers that helped the Pioneers start the third on a 7-2 run.

After a timeout by James Wood, Casey Ackerman (eight points) knocked down a jumper and then Cook nailed a 3-pointer following a turnover by the Colonels to cap a 12-2 run that put the Pioneers ahead 38-26 with 5:11 left.

Cook scored seven points and Ackerman and Rooks added four apiece to stretch the Pioneers lead to 46-32 at the end of the third.

“In the third quarter we needed to come out with intensity and I think we did better,” Cook said. “The first half was slow and we weren’t doing our jobs and playing like we usually do. Our goal in the third quarter was to just come out with intensity and talk on defense and just do the things we’re accustomed to doing.”

James Wood had more turnovers (10) than points (eight) in the momentum-shifting third quarter.

“In the second half we came out and they jumped on us,” James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. “We had three [early] turnovers and they got three baskets and from there it’s kind of fighting back. We didn’t play well [in the second half].

“I feel like it was us and we weren’t executing. We were standing around way too much, we weren’t cutting to the basket and we weren’t running any plays.”

The Pioneers used their defensive pressure to get out in transition and scored five of their eight field goals on layups in the third quarter.

A 5-0 spurt to start the fourth staked Millbrook to its largest lead after Rooks connected on the second of two free throws to give the Pioneers a 51-32 advantage with 5:49 left.

Sanders said her team is adjusting now that Rooks — who missed about half of the year because of knee injury — has returned to the lineup.

“Ky, Brooke and Brenna really work inside-outside and they all three can play good, hard-nosed basketball,” Sanders said. “It’s just a matter of not going to sleep on the floor and running through what we do and that’s been our let down.

“We haven’t had Ky all season and now we finally have her back. This was her full second game and it’s like starting over. We’ve got a new rotation in there, and they’re not quite sure. She’s the returning senior letterman and I think they’re trying to defer [to Rooks] instead of doing what they do best — working as a unit instead of waiting for one individual. I think if they just get confident in what they’re doing, they’ll be fine.”

The Colonels appeared to be in good shape early, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Brooke Nesselrodt in the first half. Her first three put James Wood ahead 12-10 at the end of the first quarter and her second tied it at 19-19 midway through a second quarter that featured five lead changes.

But Borlie carried the Pioneers from there, scoring eight (all on layups) of her 18 points in the second to rally Millbrook to a 26-24 advantage at the break.

James Wood freshman Keiana Brooks scored seven of her team-high 12 points in the first half.

“Our freshman point guard Keiana was driving in the first half and she was taking the ball to the basket and doing a great job for us,” Slider said. “We came out [in the second half] after we talked about how [Millbrook] was going to pressure her more to try to stop that and that other people needed to make their cuts and step up. We didn’t do that.”

James Wood’s Laura Seymour added nine points, and Morgan Duncan and Nesselrodt chipped in with eight apiece.

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