Tight defense helps Sherando girls turn back James Wood

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

Jan 27, 2018

STEPHENS CITY — The last five minutes and 44 seconds wasn’t a pretty stretch of play for the Sherando girls’ basketball team, but it sure was gritty.

Despite being held without a point for all but the final two seconds of that stretch — which began with the Warriors holding a five-point lead — James Wood trailed the entire time.

Sherando held on for an intense 39-37 Class 4 Northwestern District win over the Colonels on Friday night that wasn’t assured until Sue Carter’s desperation 3-point heave from just inside the half-court line bounced off the right side of the backboard as time expired.

Despite missing eight consecutive free throws during that stretch, the Warriors emerged victorious on Senior Night thanks to a defense that held James Wood to 2-of-17 shooting (11.7 percent) in the fourth quarter and a 14-of-55 performance (25.4 percent) for the game.

“The last two-and-a-half minutes was grinding,” said Sherando coach Mike Marsh following a game in which neither team led by more than four points until Sherando’s 38-33 lead in the fourth quarter. “But our girls kept on doing the right things defensively, and made the stops we needed to get.”

Sherando credited its strong help defense for helping make many of those stops, and its desire to do whatever it takes played a strong role too.

James Wood tried throwing a long pass down the right sideline after grabbing a missed free throw by senior guard Kathryn Robertson with 10 seconds left.

But the Warriors were able to deflect the ball to the floor, and multiple players hustled to grab it and force a jump-ball situation. With the possession arrow in Sherando’s favor, the Warriors’ took over with 4.2 seconds left.

Senior guard Amber Garrett (13 points) was fouled with 2.4 seconds left and hit the second of two foul shots to break the Warriors’ free-throw drought.

After a timeout, Sherando then prevented James Wood’s Savannah Swanner from inbounding the ball to Makayla Firebaugh, the only member of the Colonels’ high-scoring duo still on the floor after Amber Wooldridge (second to Firebaugh with a 17.8 average coming into Friday) fouled out with 3:46 left after scoring three points.

“We really wanted this win,” said Robertson, who managed just four points but helped slow down Firebaugh after the Wood sophomore exploded for 12 of her 26 points in the first quarter. “This is good for our district. And it’s also Senior Night for us, so it was really important to us.”

Seniors Marah Humphreys, Tori Seymour and Amber Strosnider started alongside Robertson and Garrett on a night in which the Warriors (12-7, 5-4) pulled within a half-game of James Wood (14-4, 5-3) for third place in the district.

As evidenced by their 17 fourth-quarter shots (Sherando only took three thanks to seven turnovers), the Colonels had their chances to win after falling behind by five following two traditional three-point plays (one by Garrett, the other by Ashton Clark with 5:44 left).

But after Firebaugh hit a 3-pointer from about 23 feet away to make to cut the Warriors’ lead to 38-37, James Wood could not convert on any of them.

The Colonels had four shot attempts around the 1:15 mark of the fourth quarter, and couldn’t get any to fall.

James Wood’s last good look at the basket came with 15 seconds on an 18-foot jumper from Firebaugh after she turned and spun. But the shot bounced off the rim and Clark (12 points) grabbed the rebound with 13 seconds left.

Clark and Robertson combined to miss three free throws in the next three seconds, but the Warriors survived.

“I turned around, and I knew I was off-balance when I took [the shot],” said Firebaugh. “I was just, ‘Dang.’ I was just hoping somebody would be there underneath for the rebound.

“We just had an off game. It was just a little bit unlucky tonight for us.”

James Wood coach Krista Crites said she felt her team played well on defense — the Colonels forced 13 turnovers in taking a 22-21 halftime lead.

But James Wood’s 6-of-11 performance at the line, its numerous fouls (Wooldridge had to sit out most of the second half with foul trouble) and its shooting from the field was too much to overcome.

“We missed a lot of key buckets, not just in the fourth quarter, but throughout the whole game,” Crites said. “I thought Sherando shot well and Firebaugh played a great game. We just didn’t have enough other scoring to balance that out.”

No one else besides Firebaugh had more than three points for the Colonels.

Marsh said it was great to win after losing the first game against James Wood 42-37 on Jan. 3. Sherando had held teams to 31-percent shooting heading into Friday, and it was even better against the Colonels.

“These are two evenly matched teams, and both team played well,” Marsh said. “Both teams played sloppy at times. But it means a lot to pull out an intense game like this.”

The Warriors made 13 of 32 shots.

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