Wooldridge nets 30 as James Wood girls crush Kettle Run

By JERRY HOLSWORTH SPECIAL TO THE WINCHESTER STAR

WINCHESTER — Amber Woodridge’s 30-point night combined with an aggressive James Wood defense that caused 37 turnovers led to James Wood’s crushing 94-18 victory over Kettle Run in the Colonels’ Northwestern District girls’ basketball opener on Wednesday at Shirley Gymnasium.

“I thought that we played really well tonight,” said James Wood coach Krista Crites, whose team improved to 2-1 overall. “The one thing I thought we needed to improve on was free throws and we shot extremely well at both the line and in the field.”

Kettle Run’s woes began almost immediately as the Colonels’ defense gave the Cougars very few opportunities to get the ball across midcourt much less shoot the ball. After committing 15 first-quarter turnovers, the Cougars (1-3, 0-2) were only able to attempt four field goals in the period and made just two.

While the Cougar offense was floundering, James Wood was red hot. Led by 13 first-period points by Makayla Firebaugh and six more by Savannah Swanner, the Colonels were 15 of 18 from the field, resulting in a 32-5 lead after only eight minutes of play.

“We really worked hard on our defense,” Crites said. “Defense is our big thing because we’re not big but we are quick. You have to use the advantages that you have. Our defensive play allows us to do that, and it’s getting there.”

Although they reduced their turnovers to nine, the Cougar fortunes didn’t improve in the second period. This time it was Wooldridge who had the hot hand, scoring 15 second quarter points, including three 3-pointers.

Leading 57-10 at the half, Wood overcame point guard Jennifer Kerns’ foul trouble. Emma Van Horn not only ran the offense well, but she contributed 12 points towards the victory.

”I thought we played a really good game as a team,” Van Horn said. “We hustled the whole time we were out there. We were backing each other up well. I’m not nervous about replacing Jennifer when she gets into foul trouble or needs a breather. We practice all of the time.”

The third quarter was a repeat of the first two — with one difference. Instead of getting the majority of their points from one or two players, the Colonels had seven players contribute to their 22 points during the period.

“We worked really well as a team,” Wood guard Brittany Haney said. “We came out running our press and it worked really well. We try to play the best that we can the entire time we’re on the court, and that’s worked well for us.”

With Wood leading 79-15 heading into the final eight minutes, Crites cleared her bench. The result, however, wasn’t much different than the first three quarters — only the names changed. Donyell Sloane led Wood during the period with four points as the Colonels outscored the Cougars 15-3.

Of the 12 players who suited up for the Colonels, all but one scored in the victory.

“I was very impressed by how our bench players performed,” Crites said. “They came right in and ran the plays like they were supposed to. The only player we had that didn’t score was because of an injury.”

Firebaugh added six of the Colonels’ 34 steals and dished out five assists. Jenny Kerns recorded six points and seven steals. Wooldridge notched five steals. Sloane cleaned up on the boards with nine rebounds.

The Colonels shot a blistering 60 percent (39 of 65) for the game.

“I really didn’t know much about James Wood’s team coming into this game,” Cougars coach Ellen Allen said. “They just shot the lights out of the ball tonight and that was the end of us. It was tough for our girls to get beat like this, but James Wood has a really impressive team. We’ll do our best to bounce back and keep moving forward.”