Millbrook girls net victory over James Wood

WINCHESTER — Millbrook coach Erick Green Sr., strolled down to the James Wood locker room after Friday’s game at Casey Gymnasium to apologize to Colonels coach Sanford Silver.

While his Pioneers netted a 54-38 victory, Green wasn’t happy that Silver’s squad didn’t get the best effort from his team and he wanted to say he was sorry.

Jaliah Jackson scored 17 points to help Millbrook weather a 24-point evening from James Wood’s Brynna Nesselrodt, but Green couldn’t hide his disappointment in his Pioneers (13-2, 6-0), who maintained their lead atop the Class 4 Northwestern District standings.

“Terrible,” said Green when asked his assessment of his team’s play. “We played very sloppy with too many turnovers. Once again, they weren’t focused the last two days. That’s our toughest problem as coaches here — getting up for teams that we are supposed to beat.”

Green said that is not meant as disrespect to the Colonels or any other team in the district. The fact is you can count the Pioneers’ district losses on one hand over the last decade.

“It’s hard,” said Green, who emphasized his players are well aware of the program’s history. “It’s a struggle as a coach to get them motivated. They were flat. They walked in here like they knew they were going to win the game and they didn’t have to put the effort in. The defense was terrible and the offense was even worse.”

Behind eight points from Nesselrodt, the Colonels built an early 10-6 lead. Jackson had seven points in a 10-0 run to put the Pioneers in front, but Nesselrodt nailed a 3-pointer to bring James Wood within 16-14 after one quarter.

Led by Jackson and Hannah Stephanites, the Pioneers were able to extend the margin to 32-20 at the half. Jackson had two buckets early in the period and Stephanites scored the Pioneers’ final six points before the half. James Wood was limited to a pair of 3-pointers from Nesselrodt in the period.

“I though we played pretty well starting off,” Silver said of his team’s play. “It kind of broke down a little bit. We just needed to settle down a little bit coming into the third and fourth. ... I thought we had a pretty decent first half, but I thought it could have been a little better.”

The contest took a bizarre twist in the third period thanks to a scoreboard snafu. Kaylene Todd’s layup had given the Pioneers a 42-26 lead, but the Colonels followed with two buckets to make it 42-30.

However, the scoreboard read 42-34. After some discussion during a stoppage in play, the Colonels ended up losing three points as the scoreboard read 42-27 with 2:43 left in the quarter.

The Colonels ended the period on a 5-1 run that made the correct score 43-35 entering the final quarter.

The snafu did not matter as two tired teams struggled in the last eight minutes. James Wood did not make a field goal and was held to three points in the period. Millbrook’s lead grew as high as 54-35 on Stephanites’ late 3-pointer.

Jackson (who had 15 of her 17 in the first half), Stephanites (13) and Michaela Owens (11) scored in double figures for the Pioneers.

“I think we played pretty good,” said Jackson, who grabbed at least a dozen rebounds. “It’s just a couple of things we need to work on as a team. Overall, we did our best and tried.”

Jackson pointed to foul trouble as being a problem spot. Both she and Stephanites missed several minutes on Friday.

That’s one of the things she believes that’s part of the formula for success the remainder of the season. “[We need to] limit our fouls, play as a team and encourage each other way more than we do,” the sophomore said.

Green points to another key factor. “We understand that we have just got to win basketball games,” he said. “We’ve just got to learn to match intensity. We have to bring the intensity every night.”

Nesselrodt drained six 3-pointers and scored 17 of James Wood’s 20 points in the first half. She also grabbed six rebounds and had four steals.

Silver said the Colonels (7-7, 3-3) needed to get points from another source during the contest. “I think that was the difference maker,” he said. “We talked about that going into the second half to take the pressure off of [Nesselrodt]. We just had a hard time getting it.”

Nyah Edwards (six rebounds) and Jolie Jenkins added five points each for the Colonels, who had won six of their previous seven games before falling to the Pioneers.

“I think they’ve shown a lot of improvement,” Silver said. “... We’ve made major improvements from losing quite a few games early in the season. I think the difference has been we’ve built from every win or loss. The kids are putting the hard work in. We’re making the necessary adjustments. We’re just a little bit off.”

Saturday: James Wood 48, Park View 32STERLING — Tournament MVP Brynna Nesselrodt scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead James Wood to a win over Park View in the championship game of the Park View Tournament.

The Colonels (8-7) trailed 19-18 at the half but outscored the Patriots 15-4 in the third quarter to take a 33-23 lead.

Other James Wood leaders: Jolie Jenkins 13 points (All-Tournament Team); Josie Russell 9 rebounds (All-Tournament Team); Nayah Edwards (6 points, 7 steals, 6 rebounds).

Steward 62, Millbrook 52PORTSMOUTH — Steward took a 22-15 lead after one quarter and went on to defeat Millbrook at Churchland High School on Saturday.

The Pioneers (13-3) trailed 34-28 at the half and 50-42 after three quarters.

Millbrook leaders: Jaliah Jackson 15 points; Michaela Owens 12 points (4 3-pointers); Hannah Stephanites 11 points.

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