Millbrook girls rout Wood for third straight win

WINCHESTER — After an uncharacteristic start to the season, the Millbrook girls' basketball team hopes it has finally found its rhythm.

The Pioneers cruised to their third straight win with a 61-22 Class 4 Northwestern District victory over James Wood on Monday at the Colonels' Shirley Gymnasium.

Millbrook was without Jaliah Jackson (20 points, 10 rebounds, eight steals, three blocks against James Wood) for four games prior to the winning streak and had 6-foot-2 Jane Moreland suit up to play for the first time on Monday to join in on the fun.

Millbrook (5-5, 2-0 district) has won its last three games by double-digit point totals, outscoring their foes by 106 points in the process, after starting the season 2-5.

"Obviously, we didn't get off to the start to the season that we wanted to," Millbrook coach Cary Bartlett said. "We just tried to flush that and say, 'This is our new season.' Right now, we're 3-0 in our new season, and we're kind of going from there."

On Monday, Josie Russell scored one minute into the game after James Wood (3-6, 0-2) broke a Millbrook trap for a 2-0 Colonels lead, but after that it was all Pioneers.

James Wood would not score another point for nine minutes and 40 seconds as the Pioneers went on a 20-0 run. Millbrook expanded its lead to 31-11 at the half and 49-15 after three quarters. The Pioneers led by as much as 61-15 with 3:42 left before the Colonels scored the last seven points of the game.

The Colonels' scoreless stretch was partly a byproduct of their enormous struggles from the free throw line (James Wood, which made only 3 of 21 foul shots for the game, missed six foul shots during its the run). But it was mainly a result of Millbrook's active, trapping defense.

James Wood (10-of-40 shooting, 26 turnovers for the game) missed its last 12 shots of the first quarter and could only manage two field goal attempts in the second quarter before a basket by Erin Link cut Millbrook's lead to 27-6 with 1:59 left. The Colonels' eight turnovers in the second period were their most in any quarter.

Millbrook has been swept by both Spotswood and Tuscarora this season, but after losing by 14 and 11 to those two teams, respectively, in the first matchups, they lost by three and four, respectively, the second time around. Jackson's first game back from the injury and Millbrook's last defeat was a 40-36 game last Tuesday against Tuscarora, a performance where Bartlett saw a noticeable rise in the team's overall determination.

"I think our mindset is different now," Jackson said. "We want it more now than we did at the beginning of the season. We see it differently, and every game counts."

Bartlett has also seen a rise in Millbrook's defensive intensity over the past week.

"We've been a lot more relentless," Bartlett said. "That's a difference-maker. [Against James Wood], we were just trying to keep them off-balance, get them out of the flow of their offense, just try to speed them up, make them make decisions on the fly. I thought we did a great job of that tonight. The length and our aggressiveness caused a lot of problems."

The Pioneers' aggressiveness on the boards also helped. Millbrook struggled from the field (23 of 70), but the Pioneers gave themselves extra chances and limited James Wood's attempts at the basket with a 53-32 rebounding edge.

"We've really been struggling on the boards up until now," Bartlett said. "Not having Jaliah and Jane and their length has hurt that. Giving up offensive rebounds has been one of our problem areas, so I was very pleased."

Another positive for Millbrook was that Jackson was one of three Pioneers to score in double figures. Junior guard Jada Arrington (15 points, six rebounds, three steals, two assists) and senior forward Valentina Burrill (10 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists) joined her, and Michaela Owens added nine points and two steals.

"Having Jaliah out, as much as it hurt, it's really kind of been a blessing, because it's forced other kids into different roles, made them be more offensive-minded," Bartlett said. "I've been really pleased with some of these girls stepping up, primarily Jada. She's been one of our leaders the past five or six games."

Arrington had eight of Millbrook's 16 points in the second quarter. The speedy track star was aggressive in driving to the basket and going for rebounds throughout the game, and also nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to put the Pioneers up 25-4.

"I'm more confident and comfortable [this season]," Arrington said.

James Wood coach Sanford Silver pointed out that the standout forward Russell (five points, nine rebounds) is working her way back into shape after missing the previous two games with an illness.

But overall, he was not happy with his team's effort, which was clear when he talked to his team during timeouts late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter. With just over five minutes remaining, he subbed out every player who was on the floor.

"We've got to play with some kind of fire and passion," Silver said. "Somehow, we've lost that. I pulled them out in the fourth quarter just to prove a point, that you can give more effort than you're giving. You've got to the fight all the way to the end. You've got to teach that. If you don't teach that, they'll do the same thing in their own lives."

The Colonels might have been able to establish a little more momentum by hitting free throws, but knocking those down has been an issue all season. Coming into Monday, James Wood had made only 45 percent (69 of 152).

That area might improve with more practice. The main thing Silver wants to see is more cohesiveness, which he thinks the team has in it given that the Colonels played Clarke County tough in the first meeting between the two schools and beat Washington (W.Va.).

"I just think we're not trusting each other on the floor," Silver said. "Dribbling through the press instead of passing through the press. You're taught these things. We've shown we're better than we played tonight. Washington is a lot more talented and better than some teams we've already played. It's just mindset, understanding where we are and understanding what we need to do to improve as a unit."

Kamora Talley had four steals and Moreland had two for Millbrook, which will host Handley on Thursday. James Wood will travel to Liberty on Thursday.

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

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