Clarke Girls Stay Perfect With 47-41 Win Over Wood

Posted: December 15, 2014
By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — It wasn’t easy for the Clarke County girls’ basketball team to maintain its undefeated record on the road against the James Wood Colonels Saturday afternoon.

In the end though, the Eagles relied on their experienced seniors to prevail 47-41 and hand the Colonels their first loss of the season in a back-and-forth game at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

Clarke County (5-0) trailed 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and struggled to find its rhythm throughout the second quarter, yet still managed to take a 24-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“We didn’t play to our potential, I will say that much,” said Clarke County coach Regina Downing, who watched senior stars Anna Blue Catlett and Sydney Chrane combine to shoot just 1 of 7 in the first quarter.

“I think there was a lot of connection there with some of the other girls on the other team. We knew so many of them, we just got caught up. We didn’t come out aggressive and execute like we should have.”

While the Eagles were struggling with their execution in the first half, James Wood (3-1) was hampered by foul trouble as junior guard Keiana Brooks was whistled for three in the first two quarters and senior guard Kaitlyn Crane picked up four.

With two of their top scoring options limited, the Colonels turned to a pair of seniors to keep the game close as center Sarah Johnson led the way with a team-high 12 points and guard Danielle Rizzari knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on her way to 10 points.

“I think we had moments,” said James Wood coach Krista Crites “I think we had moments of really good defense and I think we had moments of really good offense. I’m displeased that we lost but I’m not displeased with my kids. I thought they played very well.

“Keiana had three and Kaitlyn had four fouls in the first half, [but] I think they kept their poise and did well. We had two players with seven team fouls, which is tough.”

Down one to start the second half, James Wood took the lead midway through the third quarter when Brooks was able to convert a steal into a breakaway layup and pull the Colonels ahead 29-28.

But the lead was short-lived as Catlett was able to break out of her early shooting slump and knock down Clarke County’s only 3-pointer of the afternoon to regain the lead and the Eagles closed the quarter up 36-32 for their biggest lead of the game to that point.

James Wood would continue to fight in the fourth quarter and was still within four with under two minutes remaining in the game. But back-to-back turnovers down the stretch proved costly and the Eagles held on for the victory.

“We came out flat, but it’s a win and we’ll take it,” said Catlett, who finished with a game-high 19 points and was a perfect 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. “It wasn’t one of my better games points-wise, but it was as far as everything else. Our defense helped us pull away in the fourth quarter. We made that an emphasis.”

While Catlett led the way, Chrane added nine points for the Eagles against a determined James Wood defense that did a good job of making them work for everything they got.

“Clarke County is amazing,” Crites said. “They have two 1,000-point career players [in Catlett and Chrane]. I thought we did a great job on those two.”

While she always expects her senior duo to deliver on the stat sheet, Downing has been impressed with how Catlett and Chrane have taken on even bigger leadership roles as seniors this season.

“In order for us to be successful we need to play hard on both ends of the floor,” Downing said. “They are taking the younger kids under their wing right now and helping them along in the game and getting everyone where they need to be.

“They are being more vocal. Sydney is usually more of our vocal one. Sydney is more vocal than Anna. They are sacrificing a lot of their game to spread the wealth around. That’s a key for us to go far this year, we are going to have to have that.”