Clark's career-high 33 points lead Sherando girls past James Wood

STEPHENS CITY — Shortly after walking into the coaches’ office adjoining the girls’ locker room, Sherando coach Mike Marsh lifted his arms and yelled “YESSSS!”

Marsh apologized for the outburst, but there was no need to. A win like the Warriors’ had Wednesday night deserved all the exuberance he could muster.

Led by senior Ashton Clark’s career-high 33 points, Sherando made Senior Night a particularly memorable one by avenging a Jan. 4 defeat to James Wood with a 67-60 Class 4 Northwestern District win.

The Warriors got strong contributions from all four of their seniors. Clark (12 rebounds, three steals, two assists) and senior center Nicole Morgan (13 rebounds, four assists) came up particularly down the stretch. They combined to make five of six free throws after James Wood went on an 8-0 run to cut its deficit to 60-58, and Morgan grabbed the rebound of a missed 13-footer by Makayla Firebaugh (27 points) that could have tied the game at 60 with about 40 seconds left.

“James Wood fought back, but we were resilient to hang on,” Marsh said. “In previous games we might have given up a lead like that, but we kept on fighting and made our free throws.

“All four of the seniors played a really solid game tonight. Ashley shot the ball well. But all the girls played really well together. The underclassmen really supported the upperclassmen and did a really good job.”

Morgan and fellow senior guard Haley Byrnes (nine rebounds, four assists) scored seven points each. Senior forward Ciara Gather had four rebounds during a first half in which Sherando (8-10, 5-5 district) set a dramatically different tone than in the first matchup. James Wood (12-6, 6-3) led 14-0 after one quarter and 37-10 at the half en route to a 71-44 win at Shirley Gymnasium.

Clark knocked down 11 of 22 shots, including five 3-pointers. She knocked down a 3-pointer just 20 seconds into the game en route to an 11-point first quarter.

“We started off a lot stronger than we did in the last game,” Clark said. “We were excited at the beginning and all hyped up. We had the energy going into the game, which really helped boost our confidence and our play.”

Sherando trailed 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, but the Warriors led 27-23 at the half and 48-36 at the end of three quarters. Sherando hit its last four shots of the third quarter to expand its lead from 38-34 with 2:19 left in the period.

Marsh felt the Warriors did a good job of moving the ball and running its offense. Sherando had 10 turnovers through three quarters. And while they had a few late that almost proved costly, it held its own on the defensive end of the floor to make up for that.

“We didn’t turn the ball over as much as we did in the first game,” said Marsh, whose team won its third straight game. “We were just more patient and more deliberate. We’re growing up a little bit. The girls are growing into themselves. We’re an improved team from the first time we played them.”

Sherando kept James Wood at bay throughout much of the fourth quarter. When Clark hit a jumper from about 18 feet when a pass from Morgan from the left side intended for another player flew though traffic and bounced to her on the right side to make it 55-44, it seemed like a win just wasn’t meant to be for James Wood.

But the Colonels later scored eight straight points in 57 seconds to make it 60-58. After a time- out, Morgan tried a risky deep inbounds pass from the backcourt to Clark in the front court. Jenny Kerns was able to help deflect the ball to Firebaugh, who sped up the court and got into the lane.