Brooks, Colonel Girls Hold Off Warriors, 49-41

Posted: January 6, 2016
By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Sherando and James Wood played a cat and mouse game all night Wednesday at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

The Colonels jumped out to leads in each quarter that evaporated thanks to late Warriors runs.

James Wood turned to Keiana Brooks down the stretch of the fourth quarter and the senior guard made sure the Warriors wouldn’t get within striking distance by scoring nine of her game-high 21 points in the period to ensure the Colonels’49-41 victory.

Brooks was efficient at earning chances from the foul line and she finished 9 for 11 for the contest.

“We defended her well at the beginning,” Sherando coach Mike Marsh said. “She got some points there down the stretch with free throws but we defended her well until that point. We just didn’t execute our game plan as well as we should have. We came in with what we thought was a solid game plan.”

Marsh said that plan was to keep the ball away from Brooks after she passed it.

“It was okay if she had the ball but we didn’t want to let her get the ball back,” he said. “She’s quick and a great athlete. She gets the ball to her teammates when she needs to and we need to find an answer for that.”

Brooks also had five assists, five rebounds and five steals.

“Keiana is a special player. She is a relentless player,” James Wood coach Krista Crites said. “The one thing about her is she does a great job of involving everyone. When other players on the team pick up and start doing well then Keiana can do what she does well which is picking up and driving to the basket. She creates a lot of fouls.

“If Keiana does well, we do well. But she’ll be the first to tell you that she can do what she does without everybody else.”

“I think my confidence just picked up and my teammates encouraged me along the way,” Brooks said. “It’s more fun when everyone is involved. Everyone gets involved in the game and everyone gets excited. I like to see my teammates score, it’s exciting.”

Brooks put together her standout performance while facing the speed of Sherando’s Davina Lane, a state track star.

“Davina is crazy fast and crazy athletic,” Brooks said. “She is a good player. Props to her.”

James Wood (7-2, 1-0 Northwestern), habitually a slow-starter this season, uncharacteristically jumped out to a big 13-4 lead before Sherando (6-4, 0-1) rallied for six straight points, setting the tone for the game.

“I think we are known to start off pretty slow and then pick it up,” said James Wood senior forward Grace Greene (13 points). “Tonight we came out fast which we are not really used to. I think our momentum is getting better, hopefully we can keep that up.”

Perhaps the two biggest shots of the game for the Colonels came at the ends of the second and third quarters to halt Sherando runs.

Before halftime, a missed Wood free throw led to the only 3-pointer of the game as Amanda Christian picked up the rebound and nailed a shot from behind the arc.

The Colonels led 20-18 at the break.

The Warriors cut the Colonels’ lead to one point near the end of the third quarter but Brooks was able to hit a circus bank shot to grasp momentum back for the final quarter. Wood led 32-29 entering the final period.

“Hitting those shots at the end of quarters is a huge pick-me-up,” Greene said. “It’s nice to win the quarters so it was great that we were able to do that.”

“It’s a joy of these girls,” Crites said. “They seem to hit the big shots and make the big plays at the pivotal moments. They fight and they continue to fight.

“Everybody pitches in at some point in time and you don’t really know who the big play is going to come from. ... Those end-of-the-quarter shots are something that we work on because they do give you momentum into the next quarter or the next half.”

Sherando stayed close thanks to key contributions from its bench as 18 points came from reserves. Kelli White had eight points.

“We have been working and trying to develop a bench all season long,” Marsh said. “They are coming out and doing a good job, we have some good depth. We have Kelli White, Kali Kremer and Tymber Minnick that come in and do a real good job. We like to have kids on the bench that we know are going to come in and bury field goals and that’s what they did.”

“They [the Warriors] are deep on their bench,” Crites said. “I run seven or eight players, that’s our normal rotation.”

The two rivals will square off again on Jan. 26 in Stephens City.

“Anytime you beat a rival at your home place it’s huge,” Crites said.