James Wood Girls Dispose Of Wolverines 50-36

Posted: February 3, 2015
By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — The strong gusts of wind in the cold air Monday night seemingly found their way inside to affect the shooters at James Wood’s Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium for the Colonels’ Conference 21 girls’ basketball game against Woodgrove.

James Wood, which hit just two of its first 12 shots, finished a dismal 27 percent from the floor but still managed to pull out a 50-36 double-digit win over the visiting Wolverines.

“We shot 27 percent,” said James Wood coach Krista Crites. “To play as badly as we did offensively and still win by double digits I attribute to our defense. Our defense in the second half was much better. Our help side was much better than the first half.”

After the Colonels (13-5) poor shooting start, they found themselves in an 11-5 hole late in the first quarter when they started to get the ball inside to score five straight points in the paint and close the gap before the end of the quarter.

It wasn’t until 3:59 left in the half that the Colonels made their move for the lead. Senior Sarah Johnson (seven points) was fouled on a layup and had a chance for a three-point play. Johnson missed the free throw, but hustled to snag the rebound and convert it to a four-point trip down the court and give the Colonels their first lead of the night at 17-15.

“It seems like we always start off kind of slow, but once we get going it picks up and we get in a groove,” said junior Grace Greene.

The Colonels finished the half with a 21-20 lead over the Wolverines (9-7).

James Wood senior point guard Danielle Rizzari only scored four points, but her ability to run the offense with tempo and find open players inside was key for the Colonels in the second half. Rizzari finished the night with a team-high with seven assists.

“Danielle is the unsung hero,” Crites said. “She does the small things that go unnoticed unfortunately. She sees the floor extremely well and finds people that are open that I don’t even see. She’s a true leader, when she is on the floor big things happen for us. She’s an amazing point guard.”

The Colonels were able to pick the Wolverines apart in the paint in the second half. Woodgrove was missing its 6-foot-1 post player in Sarah Root and the Colonel tandem of Johnson and Greene took full advantage of Rizzari finding them down low. The post duo combined for 20 points and 15 rebounds in the game.

“We are battling some injuries,” said Woodgrove coach Bill Reynolds. “We were a little shorthanded but that’s no excuse. They beat us, they played better than us tonight.”

Along with missing Root, Woodgrove’s leading scorer was hobbled with an ankle injury. Senior Brooke Basinger gave a gutsy effort to play, but could only manage six points, falling far below her near 20-point season average.

For James Wood, it was another great effort off the bench from Greene who did not miss a shot and finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

“Grace has been coming off the bench and getting a lot of points and a lot of rebounds,” Crites said. “Pivotal things that we need at crucial points in the games. She has done this several times throughout the season. This is probably her third or fourth double-figure game off the bench. She has really stepped up and done an excellent job for us off the bench.”

Woodgrove stayed within one possession of the Colonels until disaster struck for the Wolverines midway through the third quarter.

Over a 30-second span James Wood went on an 8-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Amanda Christian and a breakaway layup from junior Keiana Brooks (13 points).

“That just set us off,” Greene said. “Having [Christian] come off the bench like that as a sophomore is really good to get us going. Once we got that we were like, ‘OK, we got this.’”

The swift eight-point run served as a back-breaker for the Wolverines.

“I’ve seen James Wood play many times and I knew [Christian] could shoot,” Reynolds said. “She came off the bench and she hit two shots under pressure. That’s kind of what swung the game, but overall you can’t point to just two shots.

“They killed us inside. Our post players did good offensively. Defensively they just worked the ball inside. Hats off to them they got the ball in to those girls and they got offensive rebounds and scored where they got the chance.”

The run gave the Colonels a cushion that they would never surrender. In the fourth quarter James Wood outscored Woodgrove 15-6 to put the nail in the coffin on the 14-point victory.

“The thing I always tell my girls before every game and at halftime and after every game is how much I admire their heart and their fight,” Crites said. “I make sure that I emphasize that every time we play. Those are the two things that can’t be taken away from us. Those are the two things they have absolute control of at all times.

“Every game they seem to step up and fight every step of the way and I attribute that to them. Defense was the big thing because shots weren’t falling, we needed the defense to step up, and that’s what they did.”