Free throws lift James Wood girls over Sherando

By JERRY HOLSWORTH | The Winchester Star

Jan 4, 2018

WINCHESTER — When Sherando and James Wood’s girls’ basketball teams squared off Wednesday both squads seemed to take a cue from the weather.

Both were as cold as the freezing temperatures outside of Shirley Gymnasium.

The Colonels warmed up at the foul line, making 12 of 14 attempts to pull out a 42-37 Northwestern District victory.

Both Sherando (30 percent) and James Wood (31 percent) shot below the freezing mark and made the same number of field goals (14), but the Colonels had a seven-point edge at the line.

“We really didn’t come ready to play,” said Colonels coach Krista Crites, whose team improved to 10-1 overall, 2-0 in the district. “We had too many turnovers, and that’s all about mental focus. Sherando did a good job of covering the passing lanes, too.”

The only quarter where there was any offense to speak of was the final one. Leading 27-21, Wood fought off a determined comeback effort by the Warriors. Amber Garrett got things started for Sherando by hitting a 3-pointer just 20 seconds into the period and a bucket by Nicole Morgan a minute later drew the Warriors to within 27-26.

The Colonels slowly built there lead up to 37-30 with 2:11 left, but the Warriors rallied again. A basket by Blake Conner and a 3-pointer by Ashton Clark got the Warriors back to within 37-35 with 1:54 left.

James Wood survived the Warriors’ surge by making three of four from the line over the last minute.

“Free-throw shooting won the ballgame for us,” Crites said. “We went 12 of 14. All of our players who went to the line hit their free throws. That saved us.”

The first three quarters looked like neither side wanted to win the game. Wood shot a dismal 2 of 12 from the field and committed five turnovers in the opening period. Sherando was equally unproductive, hitting just 3 of 9 field goals and committing four turnovers.

The result was an 8-8 tie heading into the second quarter.

It got even sloppy over the next eight minutes. The Warriors committed seven turnovers and James Wood had five. The difference again was free throws as the Colonels were a perfect 5 of 5 from the line.

The third quarter was much of the same as both teams netted nine points. Amber Wooldridge had six critical points for the Colonels in the period.

“I just let the game come to me and stayed focused,” said Wooldridge, who led the Colonels with 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Wood was without a pair of starters, but Crites refused to use that as an excuse. Jennifer Kerns was injured and Savannah Swanner was out of town.

“We had two players out,” Crites said. “One is visiting family and the other is hurt. I really don’t think that affected anything at all. We were just flat and not ready to play.”

The Colonels had just five players score. Dony Sloane and Makalya Firebaugh both had 10 points. Firebaugh had

“We could have played a lot better,” Sloane said. “We made our free throws and got the rebounds most of the time, though. We need to get back to practice and focus on fixing the problems we had tonight.”

Clark’s 12 points led Sherando (6-6, 1-2), which had just six players score. Garrett netted 10 points and Tori Seymour added eight.

Note: The James Wood boys’ and girls’ varsity and JV basketball teams are participating this week in the The Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge to benefit the American Cancer Society. Fans can donate for every three-point shot their team makes toward the charity. For more information or to make a pledge log go to the website www.3pointchallenge.org.