Sherando girls survive cold second half to edge James Wood

STEPHENS CITY — Sherando coach Brooklyn Wilson couldn’t remember a game that she’s been around when the winning team scored just 11 points in the second half.

She’s got one now.

The second-seeded Warriors survived making just four field goals in the second half and scored four points in the final quarter to edge James Wood 42-40 in the Class 4 Northwestern District semifinals on Tuesday.

Asia Williams’ drive with 30 seconds left provided the winning margin for second-seeded Sherando (19-4), which will travel to No. 1 Millbrook for Friday’s title game at 6:30 p.m.. The Warriors clinched their first Region 4C berth since 2016.

“It was heart and guts. That’s what it took,” Wilson said when asked how her team pulled out the win. “I’ve never been a part of or coached a team that has had more of either of those things. The girls did a great job of staying focused.”

Thanks to an outstanding first half in which they built a 31-16 halftime lead, the Warriors seemed in control. Even after a seven-point third quarter, Sherando still led by 13 points entering the final period against the Colonels.

But Sherando went ice cold and couldn’t hang onto the ball as James Wood threw everything it had left at the Warriors, who would go nearly seven minutes without a point.

Led by Gabby Valentinetti and Brynna Nesselrodt, the Colonels begin chipping away at the 13-point deficit. Valentinetti had eight points and Nesselrodt added four as James Wood closed the gap. Nesselrodt’s jumper from the foul line gave the Colonels their first lead of the game at 39-38 with 1:35 to go.

“It was very frustrating,” said Sherando’s Jaiden Polston of the quarter. “We lost ourselves there, but we pulled it together and got the win like we knew we would.”

Polston’s left-handed layup put the Warriors back in front with 1:09 to go. James Wood’s Aleeya Silver would make one of two free throws to tie it with 46 seconds left.

Williams would deliver on the Warriors’ next possession, splitting the defense and converting on a left-hand drive to the basket with 30 seconds left.

“I was just trying to stay focused,” Williams said of the game-winner. “I knew we were kind of close in score. … I was looking to drive and get that last bucket so we could win.”

A lot of things would still have to go right from there for the Warriors, who missed two front ends of one-and-ones, while the Colonels missed on the front end of a one-and-one, too. After Sherando’s second miss with 5.5 seconds remaining, the Colonels hustled the ball up the court and coach Sanford Silver tried to call a timeout, but the official did not make that call. Williams ended up with the ball as the buzzer sounded.

Silver was disappointed the timeout wasn’t called, but praised his team for its comeback effort.

“We only gave up 11 points in the second half,” he said. “That’s awesome. That’s almost unheard of. Hats off to the James Wood Colonels. We did what we wanted to do, we just couldn’t nail those free throws we needed at the end.”

The Warriors got off to a blazing start, led by Polston in the first half. They led 11-6 after one quarter and Polston scored 10 points in the second quarter as Sherando pulled out to its 15-point halftime lead.

“I think in the first half it was getting our personal momentum going and feeding off of that defensively to transition it for offense,” Polston said of the first-half success.

“We were just playing really good basketball,” Wilson said. “We executed well all of the things that we talked about and put into practice and prepared for. It was executing and converting on offense and knowing their assignments on defense. They did a good job and played together.”

While the Warriors played together, Silver said his club was out of sorts. “We just didn’t let the game come to us in the first half,” he said. “We didn’t settle down enough. We didn’t move without the ball well enough at the beginning of the first half.”

Polston led the Warriors with 14 points, five steals and four blocks. Ella Carlson (10 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Williams added six points each.

Valentinetti (four steals) and Nesselrodt (seven rebounds) topped James Wood with 14 points each.

The Colonels (12-8) have seven seniors on the roster, including starters Aubrey Grove, Emma Bursey, Valentinetti and Aleeya Silver, who played together for the final time.

“We started out in the hole with a very tough schedule,” Sanford Silver said of the season. “We rallied around it relentlessly. … We’ve proven within this conference that we are strong and James Wood is going to be strong moving forward.”

Sherando knows its season will extend beyond Friday’s district title game where it will get a second opportunity against Millbrook. The Pioneers won the only clash between the two 52-43 on Feb. 7.

“It’s a good matchup,” Wilson said. “We’re excited to get them again. We didn’t feel like we played our best last time we saw them.”

“We’re going to go and play our best basketball and hopefully bring it home,” Polston said.

And regardless of the result, the Region 4C semifinals will follow.

“We’ve been wanting this for awhile, especially because we haven’t made it in so long,” Williams said. “That was really our goal this year.”

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