Millbrook girls top James Wood in district tiebreaker

STEPHENS CITY — Millbrook coach Erick Green Sr. made sure his team got a good look at the banners hanging in the Pioneers’ Casey Gymnasium before the Class 4 Northwestern District playoff tiebreaker against James Wood.

His players then went out and did one heck of a job making sure the Pioneers’ district legacy continued on Monday night.

Millbrook hit three straight 3-pointers in the final 66 seconds of the first half to go from trailing by one to being ahead by eight, and the Pioneers rode that spurt to a 78-61 win over the Colonels at Sherando High School.

Winners of at least a share of 12 straight district regular-season titles, the Pioneers led 39-31 at the half thanks to that run of 3-pointers, then put everything together in the third quarter to take a 63-43 lead into the final eight minutes of the game. James Wood never got closer than the 17 points it wound up losing by at the end of the game as the Pioneers built their lead up to as much as 27 points.

James Wood is still technically co-regular season district champions because Monday's game was for the No. 1 seed in the district tournament, but Millbrook’s win gave them a leg up for the season on the Colonels.

“[District championships] are something that’s going to last for a lifetime,” Green said. “[Looking at the district championship banners] provided the extra motivation we needed to bust our butts.”

Sophomore guard Avery O’Roke (game-high 24 points) said it definitely meant a lot to show Millbrook was the definitive regular-season champs. Tuesday’s game was necessary after James Wood handed Millbrook just its third district regular-season loss in the last 12 seasons in a 67-59 contest at Shirley Gymnasium on Friday.

“It feels great, because [championships] is what we do,” O’Roke said. “We always try and be the best and work hard.”

With the win, Millbrook (22-1) clinched an automatic Region 4C tournament berth and earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 4 Northwestern District tournament that begins with Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Millbrook will host No. 8 Handley (3-19) at 6 p.m. and No. 2 James Wood (20-3) will host No. 7 Kettle Run (5-15) at 6 p.m.

At the game’s outset, the Colonels looked plenty hungry to follow up on their first win over Millbrook since 2008, jumping out to an 11-4 lead at the 4:30 mark of the first quarter and 18-7 lead at the 1:19 mark.

But Vanessa Cooper (nine points) knocked down a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left in the first quarter to start a run of scintillating outside shooting over the rest of the half.

Green said with the Colonels’ collapsing inside on Ali Hauck (10 points) — who played just 10 minutes in Friday’s loss because of foul trouble — in their standard zone, the looks were there from 3-point range, and the Pioneers didn’t waste them.

Millbrook hit 8 of 13 3-pointers in the first half, and not surprisingly, the Pioneers were up 39-31 as a result. Millbrook hit 11 3-pointers in its first win against James Wood (a 68-45 decision) and just two in Friday’s defeat.

At the end of the half, it was Lauren Bartlett who gave Millbrook the lead for good at 33-31, then Jenna McClung hit two more. The first half also saw Kennedi Rooks (17 points) hit two 3’s and Cooper sink three.

Millbrook began to pick up its defense in the second quarter (the Colonels made 3 of 14 shots after routinely driving and passing through the Pioneers’ defense in making 9 of 17 shots and taking a 20-15 after one quarter). That continued in the third quarter, as Millbrook held James Wood to 3 of 11 shooting and forced six turnovers. Green credited a mix of three zones and a man look for improving the defense.

The Pioneers only hit one 3-pointer in the third, but they turned defense into offense for layups and worked the ball-around for short-range jumpers while hitting 9 of 17 shots in the quarter. Millbrook pushed its lead out from 52-41 with 3:24 left in the second after Brenna Prunty (12 points) picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench for the rest of the quarter, with Millbrook holding a 12-2 edge with her out.

“They have a good team,” James Wood coach Krista Crites said of Millbrook. “They have some shooters, and we knew they could shoot. We let them make too many, but our kids played hard.”

Makayla Firebaugh played with an illness but still had 19 points to lead the Colonels. Brynna Nesselrodt added 17 for James Wood.

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