Posted: February 2, 2013
By ROBERT STOCKS

WINCHESTER — Even when the Millbrook’s girls’ basketball team couldn’t get the shots to fall, the Pioneer girls proved they’re still pretty formidable against James Wood Friday night.

Millbrook started the game just 3 for 19 from the field, but then reeled off a pair of 24-point quarters to win its sixth consecutive game with a 71-49 rout of James Wood at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

Junior Brenna Cook scored a game-high 19 points to lead three Millbrook players in double figures as the Pioneers (16-2, 6-1) won for the 12th time in their last 13 games. Senior Brooke Borlie added 14 points and six rebounds, and senior Ashley Goodman finished with a solid all-around game with 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

“We started real slow, and we knew we needed to pick it up,” said Millbrook coach Debby Sanders. “We were cold and we just couldn’t get going early. I thought we settled down a little bit better in the second quarter and built that lead.”

While Millbrook got off to a slow start offensively, no one struggled more from the field early in the contest than Cook. She missed her first five shots in a scoreless first quarter, but the Pioneers still led 8-7 after the first eight minutes despite shooting just 16 percent from the field. Cook’s dry spell from the field didn’t last long as she poured in 10 points in the second quarter to help the Pioneers pull away. Her 3-pointer capped a 6-0 spurt, helping Millbrook overcome its only deficit of the night at 7-6.

Millbrook scored 12 of its 24 second-quarter points in the paint on layups in transition or after getting offensive rebounds and scoring on putbacks. Sophomore Casey Ackerman’s three-point play after she was fouled on a putback staked the Pioneers to a 29-21 lead with 51 seconds left in the first half.

Cook added a free throw and then scored on a layup just before the buzzer to push Millbrook’s lead to 32-21 at the half.

“We were playing really bad but we still had an 11-point lead,” Sanders said. “We said, ‘Let’s come out with some intensity to start the third quarter,’ and I think they did a good job of that.”

James Wood (10-9, 2-4) cut the Pioneers’ lead to 36-29 after a short jumper off the glass by Whitney Dick (nine points) but Millbrook pulled away midway through the third quarter.

Goodman connected on a 3-pointer, starting a 9-0 Millbrook run that quickly stretched the lead back to double digits for good. Cook hit her second 3-pointer and capped the run with short jumper in the paint after an offensive rebound to stretch the Pioneers’ lead to 45-32, forcing a James Wood timeout with 3:21 left in the third.

Cook scored nine points and Goodman added six as the Pioneers closed the third with six straight points take a 56-38 advantage.

“We started out slow, and we’ve had a problem with that all season,” said Cook, a transfer from Central who entered the game averaging 18.2 points. “At halftime we just had to get in the right mind-set, and I think we came out a lot stronger, faster and more intense in the second half.”

With an 18-point lead through three quarters, Sanders subbed in players from the bench. Sophomore guard Robyn Reed (eight points) scored six straight points (on three layups) to start the fourth quarter. Borlie added a layup, and Goodman capped the 11-0 run with her second 3-pointer of the night to give Millbrook its largest lead with a 67-38 advantage midway through the fourth. James Wood never cut the deficit to less than 20 the rest of the way.

After only having a two-point advantage at the half (26-24) in a 59-46 win over the Colonels on Jan. 11, the Pioneers overcame their slow start to rout Wood in the final three quarters.

“We knew we just had to step it up to send a message,” Goodman said. “If we have to play [James Wood] in the playoffs, they can’t stand up to us.”

Sanders said Goodman’s effort has been solid in the team’s six-game winning streak.

“Ashley has really stepped up in this stretch,” Sanders said. “She’s getting more confidence handling the ball for us and with her shot especially because she’s lights out. She has the ability but she didn’t have the confidence [earlier in the year] and here lately she’s doing all the right things, even with her assists.”

After a 13-point loss to the Pioneers in the first meeting, James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said she was expecting a more competitive game.

“We knew what they were going to do — try to get it into the post to their key players down there and we worked on that and unfortunately we weren’t successful at stopping it,” said Slider, whose team committed 22 turnovers. “Tonight was one of the worst games we’ve played in a while, and we took a beating.”

Junior guard Brooke Nesselrodt, who scored the first five field goals of the contest for the Colonels, led James Wood with 18 points, including three 3-pointers.

Slider honored James Wood senior Erika Hepner, the team’s lone senior who missed most of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee, by putting her in the starting lineup on Senior Night. Hepner was replaced seconds after the opening tip following the first whistle.

Sarah Johnson and Keiana Brooks added six apiece for Wood.

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