Posted: January 29, 2013
By MARK SAWYER
Special to The Winchester Star

BERRYVILLE — More often than not close basketball games are decided from the free-throw line, and by the team that makes the critical play at the crucial time.

Such was the case Monday night when Clarke County hosted James Wood in a non-district girls’ basketball game.

In a contest that featured 11 ties, including both at the half and at the end of the third quarter, the Eagles converted 18 of 27 free throws for the game and 11 of 16 in the fourth quarter, allowing them to pull away from the Colonels late for a 57-49 victory at Clarke County High School.

“This is a game that we’ve had circled on the calendar for a long time,” said Clarke County coach Tim Lawrence, whose team lost 52-51 to James Wood back on Dec. 8. “Even though it is a non-district game we were very disappointed with the outcome the first time we played these guys. We wanted to represent ourselves more strongly and I feel like we did that. “It was a gut-check win. We had a lot of success early in the game but they fought back. It’s nice to get clutch free throws in our pocket, there have been a lot of games where we haven’t had that. I felt like the kids responded to the pressure tonight and I thought we did a decent job down the stretch.”

Clarke County (14-4) only made three field goals in the fourth quarter, but that was more than enough thanks to their production at the free-throw line.

With 2:11 left in the game, James Wood’s Keiana Brooks buried a 3-pointer to tie the game for the last time at 47-47, but from there it was all Clarke.

On the next trip down the floor Clarke’s Anna Blue Catlett gave the Eagles the lead for good at 49-47 with a short jumper in the lane.

Clarke County super sophomore Sydney Chrane scored plenty throughout the night, finishing with a game-high 20 points, but her most important field goal could very well have been the only one she collected in the fourth quarter.

Still leading 50-48, Clarke’s Becky Smith was at the line with only 56 seconds left in the game. Smith hit the first free throw but the second missed off the front of the rim. Chrane grabbed the board and scored off the glass to increase the lead to five (53-48).

“This was very important for us (this game),” Chrane said. “We wanted to come out strong and be ready for whatever they threw at us. We just wanted to stay focused and play hard till the end of the game.”

After that James Wood (10-8) struggled offensively and a flury of missed shots and turnovers put them in a must-foul position. Clarke made 6 of 10 foul shots in the last 1:29 of the game.

On the other hand the Colonels had issues not only with fouls but with also foul shooting. For the game Wood made only 7 of 19 free throws and only 3 of 9 in the fourth quarter.

“It seems to be the same story (for us),” James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. “When you have fouls and you have turnovers because you’re not playing good defense you’re going to end up in a situation down like we were, down and you can’t catch up in the last couple of minutes.

“It’s been our story for several games and yes it’s getting frustrating. I felt like we were doing what we needed to do but then we got into foul trouble and the turnovers. We’re not young, we shouldn’t be doing this. It’s the point of the season when it shouldn’t be happening.”

In addition to Chrane’s game-high 20, Blue Catlett added 19 for the Eagles. Brooks led the way for the Colonels with 17 off the bench, including scoring 10 of Wood’s 14 second quarter points. She added six steals to go with it.