Green’s Layup Lifts Millbrook Past Wood Girls, 46-44

Posted: January 14, 2015
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — After being responsible for the turnover that allowed the game-tying basket, Maddie Green knew there was only way to make up for her mistake.

With the ball in her hand and the clock winding down, the freshman guard drove hard to her left, got a step on her defender and lofted a shot off the backboard that ripped through the net just before time expired to give the Millbrook girls’ basketball team a thrilling 46-44 win over James Wood on the road Tuesday night.

“I was trying to look for the wings and I just heard my dad in the crowd saying, ‘Go for it, nobody’s open,’ so I just kind of took it and it went in,” said Green, who finished with a team-high 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win.

“It was my first game-winner ever. I just got a little step and I knew it was going in. Right when I got the crossover on her I knew it was going in.”

Green’s last-second shot saved herself and the Pioneers (9-5, 3-0 Northwestern District) from going to overtime with a James Wood team that fought them tooth and nail from the opening tip.

The Colonels (7-3, 1-2) led 10-4 at the end of the first quarter thanks to eight early points from junior guard Keiana Brooks — who would finish with a game-high 20 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven steals — and never seemed to let Millbrook get comfortable.

A 16-3 run midway through the second quarter that featured a pair of 3-pointers from freshman guard Erika Reed (10 points) and another from Green gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game at 22-15, but the Colonels answered with three straight free throws to close the half and seniors Sarah Johnson and Danielle Rizzari opened the third quarter with back-to-back layups to tie the score back up.

Coming off a loss to Turner Ashby on Saturday in which it didn’t make a single 3-pointer, Millbrook again struggled shooting, finishing 19 for 67 (28 percent) from the field and 5 of 19 (26 percent) from beyond the arc.

“That’s two games in a row we haven’t shot the ball particularly well,” said Millbrook coach Kevin Barr. “We haven’t been shooting the ball very well, so that’s got to come along, we have to get better at that.”

Consecutive baskets from juniors Joneisha Cain and Lauren Reed gave the Pioneers a 36-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Colonels scored four points in the first 45 seconds of the quarter and it remained a one-possession game for most of the final seven minutes.

Despite not shooting well themselves either — 16 for 57 (28 percent) from the field and 2 for 10 (20 percent) from the 3-point line — the Colonels refused to go away.

A Brooks 3-pointer gave James Wood a 39-38 lead with three minutes to play, but freshman Amari Anthony scored off an inbounds pass and fellow freshman Haile McDonald (10 points and 12 rebounds) grabbed an offensive rebound and scored inside to put the Pioneers back on top 42-39.

After a Brooks free throw and another McDonald putback, the Colonels extended their pressure defense and senior Kaitlyn Crane stole a pass and found Brooks, who was fouled driving to the basket.

The junior guard made both free throws to cut the deficit to 44-42, and then stole Green’s inbounds pass and laid it in to the tie the score with 15 seconds remaining on the clock.

But despite the late miscue, Green kept her cool coming out of a timeout and found a way to make amends with her last-second layup.

“At the end I thought we had it. I’ll take the loss, I’ll put that on me,” said James Wood coach Krista Crites. “I should have kept the full-court pressure on [after Brooks tied the game] and I didn’t. I didn’t want to get beat long and I thought our man-to-man defense had been great all night and that we’d get a stop and go to overtime.

“But [Green] made a good move and the help side didn’t come over and she put it in. She made a great move and finished, and that’s what she’s supposed to do. I’m not pleased with the loss but I’m pleased with how we played. Going into this I said we needed to play the whole 32 minutes and I thought we did just that.”

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