James Wood girls cruise against Handley

By JERRY HOLSWORTH | Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood’s girls’ basketball team took advantage of Handley’s poor shooting to dominate the Judges 50-28 in a Northwestern District game at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium on Friday.

“James Wood played very well tonight,” Handley coach Randi Jones said. “We played hard, but we just couldn’t get the ball in the basket. You’re not going to win many games when you go 4 of 20 from the free throw line, either.”

While the Judges had trouble making their shots, Wood relied on brilliant performances by Makayla Firebaugh, Amanda Christian and Hannah Arnold to light up the scoreboard.

“We’ve been working very hard in practice trying to simulate game situations,” Wood coach Krista Crites said. “We’ve been taking that more seriously, and I think that really helped tonight.”

Wood’s superior ability to shoot the ball was evident from the opening whistle. While the Judges (2-11, 0-2 district) missed all but one of their nine field goal attempts, and both their free throws, the Colonels (9-3, 1-1) were 8-of-12 from the field with four 3-pointers over the first eight minutes of play.

Arnold was dominating in the paint, scoring seven first quarter points. When the Wood senior wasn’t hammering home short jumpers near the basket, Firebaugh and Christian chucked it in from long distance as each nailed a pair of 3-pointers in the first period.

The result was a commanding 21-2 Wood lead heading into the second period.

“We’ve been working really hard the last few days,” Firebaugh said. “I think we’re now beginning to put everything together. I thought we played really well as a team tonight.”

The Judges recovered somewhat in the second quarter and managed to play even with Wood. Taylor Beard scored four of her eight points in the period, and Yasmine Newman came off the bench to score five points over the final minute.

But the Judges still only managed to make one of their six free throws and trailed 32-11 at halftime.

“We had a lot of good passing and assists tonight,” Arnold said. “We’re working much better as a team now. I thought we were a little complacent in the second half, though.”

Handley did play hard and their efforts on defense kept Wood from extending its lead in the second half. The Judges forced six third-quarter turnovers and kept Firebaugh and Christian from making any more 3-pointers. Shooting still plagued Handley, which managed just 3-of-13 from the field in the third period.

The Colonels lead 40-20 heading into the final eight minutes of play, which became a parade to the foul line.

In the final quarter, the two teams combined for 18 free throws and 11 fouls. That hurt Handley. Wood made 6 of 10 from the line while the Judges were 1 of 8.

Firebaugh led the Colonels with 16 points. Arnold netted 11 and Christian had nine, all on 3-pointers in the first half. Amber Wooldridge also scored nine points.

“Right now, at this point in the season, we need to work on getting better with each game,” Crites said.

Newman led the Judges with 11 points, including Handley’s only two 3-pointers.

“We need to continue to work on the little things that make the difference between success and failure,” Jones said. “We also need to start shooting better. You’re not going to win any games shooting like we did tonight.”