Millbrook pulls away from James Wood for girls' tournament championship

WINCHESTER — Three-point shooting might light up the scoreboard, but no qualities are more important in championship teams than grit and heart.

A Millbrook team that made 20 3-pointers in its two previous wins over James Wood went 2 for 16 from beyond the arc Thursday against the Colonels.

But in the last five minutes Thursday, top-seeded Millbrook held No. 2 James Wood without a field goal while hitting four shots within 12 feet of the basket as part of a game-ending 13-2 run that gave the Pioneers a 51-41 win in the Class 4 Northwestern District championship game at Millbrook’s Casey Gymnasium.

The Pioneers (25-1) have won all three Class 4 Northwestern District tournament championships since the conference system was abolished after the 2017 season.

“We shot the worst we shot all season in this game,” said Millbrook coach Erick Green Sr., whose team only hit 20 of 60 shots (33.3 percent) overall but did make 12 of 23 shots in the second half when they only shot five 3-pointers. “I got to give the girls credit for gutting it out and buckling down in the fourth quarter and playing good defense and totally shutting them down, and making big plays. The girls stepped up and did an excellent job.”

Both teams had already clinched Region 4C tournament semifinal berths before the game and already knew who their opponents were going to be. On Tuesday, Millbrook will host No. 2 Dulles seed Tuscarora while James Wood (22-4) will travel to Dulles No. 1 seed Loudoun Valley. Both games will be at 6 p.m.

Avery O’Roke scored a game-high 20 points to lead Millbrook, while Ali Hauck added eight points and 18 rebounds. Makayla Firebaugh had 12 points and eight rebounds for James Wood while Brenna Prunty added nine points and 11 rebounds.

Both teams struggled from the field (James Wood hit 13 of 55 shots, including 1 of 15 from 3-point range) but both fought with physicality and desire all game for rebounds (Millbrook had a 45-43 edge) and for control of the game.

The Colonels went on a 10-0 run over a span of 1 minute and 47 seconds to take a 20-10 lead with 6:19 to go in the second quarter, but Millbrook answered with a 12-4 run to cut its deficit to 24-22 at half. James Wood went on a 7-0 run to take a 33-26 lead with 1:49 left in the third quarter, but Millbrook came right back with seven points of its own. The two teams went into the fourth quarter tied at 35.

Firebaugh — who was held to less than half of her 25.8 points per game average heading into the game — hit a hook shot in the lane with 5:03 left to give the Colonels a 39-38 lead, but the Colonels would not score again until there was 1:00 left on two Firebaugh free throws. The Colonels missed their last seven shots of the game and made Firebaugh (3-of-17 shooting) work for everything she got throughout he game with its zones and traps.

“We made some adjustments and added more pressure in the second half,” O’Roke said.

Millbrook used defense, rebounding and an aggressive offensive mentality to get the points it needed to put James Wood away.

Emily Magee (12 points) grabbed an offensive rebound and sank a 5-foot shot off a Kennedi Rooks miss with 4:33 to go to put Millbrook up 40-39 with 4:33 left.

Hauck grabbed a ball out of the air after Brynna Nesselrodt’s heavily contested shot from the left corner came up short and fired the ball to the other end of the court for O’Roke, who held off a James Wood attempt to steal the ball and dribbled in for a layup to make it 42-33.

With 3:24 left, Rooks put the ball on the floor from the right wing, drove all the way to the left side of the free-throw lane and curled up toward the basket for a layup and a 44-39 lead.

With 2:58 left, Hauck hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to make it 46-39, and Magee added two more free throws with 1:15 left to make to 48-39.

Firebaugh cut it to 48-41 with her free throws. But she missed a layup with about 40 seconds left, Ciarra Harrison grabbed the rebound, and after the ball was fired to a wide-open Magee in the front court Harrison raised one of her arms and Millbrook’s fans grew increasingly louder, with everyone associated with the Pioneers yelling when Magee made a layup with 36 seconds left to make it 50-41.

“Coach always preaches that defense wins games, and defense wins championships,” Hauck said. “Even though our shots weren’t falling, those few drives, those few layups we were getting, we had to make sure to allow as few points as possible so we could make our points count.”

Millbrook showed some impressive grit even before its game-ending run. The Pioneers struggled when Hauck was in foul trouble in their loss to James Wood, but with Hauck sitting for three minutes and 16 seconds with four fouls Millbrook went from a 33-33 tie to a 38-37 lead.

The Colonels were hurt in the second half not only by field goal shooting, but also substandard free-throw shooting from a group that usually shoots fairly well from the line. The Colonels made only 6 of 13 attempts in the second half.

“We just went cold,” Crites said. “We just quit scoring. They didn’t change anything that they’ve run for the past four games. Free throws were terrible, and I think they were crucial. I just think free throws and missed easy opportunities hurt us.”

Millbrook was all smiles after posing with the district championship trophy after the game.

“We do things differently than other schools in regards to how hard we work,” Green Sr said. “We practice late because we know nobody else is practicing. It’s a special program and we’ve got dedicated kids. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”

Hauck said it felt good to add the tournament title to the regular-season title. The Pioneers have won a share of 12 straight regular-season titles.

“We didn’t want to be the team to break that legacy,” Hauck said.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1