Girls' Basketball - Millbrook completes unbeaten district season

WINCHESTER — Jalyn Abernathy isn't one of those players who is going to fill up the scorebook with points.

But that doesn't make her any less valuable to the Millbrook girls' basketball team.

Abernathy once again showed off her defensive skills as the Pioneers completed their second consecutive unbeaten run through the Class 4 Northwestern District regular season with a 66-32 romp against James Wood at Shirley Gymnasium on Tuesday.

Abernathy repeatedly deflected passes, caused turnovers and exerted pressure as the defending Class 4 state champions (19-3, 12-0 district) rolled to a 41-8 halftime lead. She helped make life miserable for the Colonels' Makayla Firebaugh, who entered the game with a 24.9 scoring average, but was held to two points on a steal and layup in the first quarter.

"It was just like last year," began Millbrook coach Erick Green Sr. when asked about Abernathy's importance to his team's defense. "I tell everybody and I'm very open about this — if we didn't have Jalyn Abernathy last year we would not have won the state championship. Jalyn's defense last year was the key when we got into regionals and state. She changed the tempo of the game and made big plays for us.

"It just has carried over this year. She has taken the leadership role on the defensive end. We put her on the best player. ... In my opinion, Jalyn is probably the best defender in the state. I said that early in the season and I say that now. ... If she gets two points she's happy. Her thing, is 'Hey did I do my job on the defensive end?' That's a special kid because kids nowadays want to focus on offense."

Abernathy says to she could care less about what the scorebook says next to her name as long as the Pioneers have more points at the end than their opponent.

"I don't really think about points for me," the senior guard said. "I want to win. It's whatever it takes for me and my teammates to win I do that."

Abernathy said the key to getting so many deflections is her length. She's listed at 5-foot-10 on the Millbrook roster.

"I just have long arms so I use my long arms to my advantage," she said.

Abernathy and company certainly frustrated the Colonels (12-7, 6-4) over the first two quarters. James Wood had 13 turnovers and shot a miserable 3 of 31 from the floor in the half.

While the Colonels also forced 12 turnovers, they were not able to turn them into points. Millbrook converted most of its steals into baskets.

Leading 6-4, the Pioneers blew the game open by holding James Wood scoreless over the final 4½ minutes of the first quarter and nearly the first 2½ minutes of the second quarter.

Over that time period, the Pioneers ran off 21 consecutive points to take a 27-4 lead. Avery O'Roke had seven points as six different Pioneers scored during the run.

Brenna Prunty's two free throws at the 5:32 mark in the second quarter ended the run, but the misery was not over for the Colonels, who would be outscored 14-2 from there. Hailey Paige, dominating the offensive glass, had eight points in that outburst that pushed the margin to 33 points at the break.

"I thought our girls did a great job defensively tonight," Green said. "They knew where the shooters were. They were making it difficult. Our defense is based on always having two people around the ball. We covered the floor very well. I give the girls all of the credit. They hustle. They listen. They give their all."

Paige said playing defense at Millbrook isn't easy.

"It's definitely a lot of work," the senior guard/forward said. "You have to be able to have help, play center field and see the ball at all times."

The Colonels did get some open looks, but seemed to hurry their shots. Green said that is common among the Pioneers' opponents.

"They rush it," he said. "They know the heat is coming."

The second half was a foregone conclusion, but the Colonels did get a lift from senior Haley Kaiser and junior Prunty in the second half.

Kaiser, a reserve, scored all 12 of her points in the half. Prunty, who had six points at halftime, added six more in the third quarter and also finished with 12.

Firebaugh came out of the game in the third quarter and did not return.

James Wood coach Krista Crites attended the JV game that followed and was not available for comment.

The athletic Paige presented a problem all night for the Colonels and netted 17 points.

"Hailey had a break-out game tonight," Green said. "She's capable of doing that every night. Colleges, she's under the radar and has never played travel ball. This is the first time she's getting major minutes. Whatever college decides to pick up, they are getting a great basketball players."

"I just tried my hardest to help out my team," Paige said.

O'Roke led the Pioneers with 20 points. Ali Hauck added 11.

Millbrook completed a dominating run through the district where it won by an average of 34.3 points per game. No district team came within 19 points of the Pioneers.

"We used what everybody was saying ... that Millbrook was going to be down," Green said. "We used that as our motivation this year. We wanted to show people that we run a program over at Millbrook and we have got kids who work hard and dedicate themselves to girls' basketball — getting bigger, stronger, faster and improving their skill.

"We play team basketball. We don't believe that there's one superstar. We don't have superstars. We have basketball players."

And if the defense that held district teams to 31.1 points per game wasn't enough, Green said the Pioneers have a few new things up their sleeve for the postseason.

"We have got some different defenses we are going to throw at teams and give them some different looks," Green said. "That's fun. We've been working on them and they are in our bag of tricks. I told them when districts and regionals come we are going to throw them out there and see how teams react. The kids are excited because we have been working on it for the past couple of weeks."

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