Wood girls fall to Eagles

By Michael L. Misfeldt
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Trailing by four with 58.5 seconds to go, the James Wood High School girls’ basketball team had the ball and a shot to close the gap.

But the Colonels could not convert on four chances in the final minute, allowing visiting Hedgesville (W.Va.) to prevail 62-56 on Monday night.

Turnovers were the difference, as the Colonels (1-5) gave the ball away three times in the final 30 seconds and 28 times in the game.

That resulted in a four-point third quarter lead turning into a six-point defeat.

“We had a tremendous amount of turnovers,” Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. “In practice we harp on it — coming to the ball, making crisp passes — but so far we haven’t been able to do that in a game yet.”

The Eagles (2-4) implemented a trap at the end of the third quarter and that helped turn the game around.

“They came out with that press and it kind of frazzled us a little bit,” Slider said. “Once the air popped, we just could not recover and we let it get away from us at the end.” When they held onto the ball, the Colonels were dangerous. Senior Heather Armel hit seven 3-pointers en route to a game-high 36 points.

“We need to work on our confidence,” Armel said. “Something always happens in the third or fourth quarter. When the other team goes on a run, we need to be able to answer that with a run of our own.”

Free throws also hurt, as the Colonels missed eight of 15 from the line, a total that would have been enough to keep them in the lead.

“Tonight wasn’t our night,” Slider said. “The last game we shot 12-15 but tonight we were only 7-15 and it cost us the game.”

The Colonels out-rebounded the Eagles 37-27, with junior Shannon Thorne hauling down 22 boards to go with 13 points.

“I think I do a good job of boxing out,” said Thorne. “It just seems to always fall into my hands. Of course I work for it, but I get a lot of luck sometimes.”

The Eagles had four players in double figures, led by senior Katy Leborious’ 19 points. Senior Jessica Mason had 14, while sophomore Tyana Monette had 13 and senior Greyson Brooks chipped in with 12.

“We knew coming in here that James Wood would be tough,” Hedgesville coach Ben Merica said. “But we were able to force a lot of turnovers and that I believe was the difference in tonight’s game.”

The Colonels will have ample chance to bounce back with three games scheduled over the next six days, including district matchups against Millbrook and Sherando.