Clarke girls beat Wood with late surge

WINCHESTER — On Friday, the Clarke County girls' basketball team showed how dominant it can be when it's clicking from the start, scoring 71 points to rout Skyline by 39 points in its season-opener.

With just 26 points and trailing by seven, dominance was nowhere to be found for the Eagles through the first 25 and a half minutes against James Wood in their second game of the season. But the defending Class 2 champions showed they still know how to handle adversity when it matters most.

Clarke County outscored the Colonels 23-3 over the last six and a half minutes to earn a hard-fought 49-36 win and improve to 2-0.

Down the stretch the Eagles were a completely different team from the first three-plus quarters. They made 7 of their last 14 shots after starting 12 of 52 from the field and hit 8 of 12 free throws after making 2 of 6 through three quarters. They also committed only four fourth-quarter turnovers after having 21 in the first three periods and had a 14-5 rebounding edge in the fourth quarter after being outrebounded 38-33 previously.

And while the Eagles kept the Colonels' offense grounded throughout the game (13-of-47 shooting, 34 turnovers), Clarke County turned up the heat in the fourth quarter by forcing 10 turnovers overall and permitting only three field goal attempts (all missed) from the 6:40 mark to the 1:40 mark.

The Eagles led 6-4 after one quarter but trailed 20-14 at the half and 29-26 after three quarters. A jumper from less than two feet inside the arc from Nayah Edwards (six points, eight rebounds) put the Colonels up 33-26 with 6:40 left as part of a 7-0 run that gave James Wood its largest lead since it was 22-14 early in the third quarter.

"At the start of the fourth quarter, I said, 'Hey guys, we're playing a little bit soft, and we've got to play with a little bit of grit,'" Clarke County coach Regina Downing said. "[James Wood] was dictating the action most of the game until the fourth quarter when we decided to do the things that we're capable of. We just had to value the basketball and be patient, and the most important thing was we stuck together."

Getting the ball to Alainah McKavish (21 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals) in the paint was a big part of the Eagles' success in the fourth quarter, whether they were in the half court or in transition.

Though McTavish is an excellent ballhander and plays well on the perimeter, the 6-foot sophomore can cause fits with her strength and finesse around the basket. McKavish scored 15 points in the fourth quarter (5 of 7 field goals, 5 of 6 free throws) when the Eagles made more of an effort to run their offense in a manner that would get her closer looks at the basket.

"They were playing good defense on me, and I wasn't having a good ball-handling and shooting night," said McKavish, who was 3 of 12 from the field in the first three quarters. "I just had to stick to the basics and go down below."

Clarke County felt it wasn't composed against the James Wood zone.

"We just really rushed ourselves," said Selene Good of the first three quarters. "We weren't really attacking those gaps that they had open. We needed to slow down and play our game."

A 3-pointer by Good (seven points, seven steals) off an assist from Kaiya Williams (14 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals) put the Eagles ahead for good at 34-33 with 5:09 left. Good then had a steal and fed McKavish for a layup with 4:29 left to make it 36-33, part of a stretch in which the Eagles were relentless on defense. James Wood's drought didn't end until Josie Russell (17 points, 14 rebounds) scored with 1:40 left.

"We really turned it up on defense," Good said.

"We've got to be better on the press break," James Wood coach Sanford Silver said. "That's kind of what solidified the game. We kind of gave it back to them [a lot], but other than that, I think we held a state championship team in check through the first half and the third quarter."

Edwards had a lot to do with the Colonels' success on defense. ("She was everywhere," Good said.) But Edwards picked up her fifth foul with six minutes to go.

"She brings a lot of defensive pressure for us," Silver said.

Silver said guard Brooklynn Medina (six rebounds, three assists, two steals) was a bit limited in her first game back after an illness, and Silver added the Colonels could have benefited from a fully healthy Russell on Tuesday. The 6-0 junior had trouble with an ankle that she injured on Friday against Fauquier on multiple occasions, and Silver would have liked to use her more to guard McTavish.

Though Silver liked how the Colonels played on defense much of the game, he wants to see his team start to do better with taking advantage of takeaways. In addition to struggling from the field, the Colonels also made only 9 of 18 free throw attempts.

"We have to capitalize a lot more when we force a team to turn the ball over," Silver said. "And when we go to the line, we've got to finish."

"We just have to attack more as a team," Russell said.

Clarke County was also led by Emily Emmart (eight rebounds, three assists) and Bailey Beard (three steals).

James Wood travels to Washington (W.Va.) on Thursday while the Eagles will travel to Skyline on Friday.

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

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