Armel, Colonels defeat Warriors

By Michael L. Misfeldt
Special to The Winchester Star

Stephens City — Heather Armel realizes the number of games left in her high school career is dwindling, and when a rival like Sherando shows up on the schedule, the game becomes that much more important to the James Wood girls’ basketball star.

Armel poured in 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Friday night, as the Colonels notched a 66-55 Northwestern District victory in the Warriors’ home gym.

“This was a district game, so we came out wanting to beat Sherando,” Armel said. “With this maybe being the last time I get to play Sherando, as a senior, I wanted to win.”

The Colonels (4-10, 3-2 Northwestern) got off to a strong start, hitting some quick shots and jumping out to a 15-7 lead through one quarter.

“We came out ready to play tonight,” James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. “We were able to press some, and we got to the line a lot and were able to convert. When you are able to hit your foul shots and limit your turnovers you can win the game, and tonight we did that.” The second quarter is when things got out of hand for the Warriors (4-9, 0-5), as their fouls began to mount up. Whitney Dennis, who scored 19 for the Colonels, took five free throws in the quarter, and she helped Wood extend its lead to 15 at the break.

“My hat goes off to James Wood,” said Sherando coach Tim Davis, whose Warriors lost to the Colonels 68-54 on Jan. 9. “The first time we played them, they came out fired up and took it to us, and sometimes when someone sucker punches you at the beginning of the game you have to step up and take your shots. You can’t back down, and tonight we just could not recover fast enough.”

The Warriors started the third quarter on a 10-4 run, forcing Slider to take a timeout and regroup her team. After the stoppage, the Colonels seemed more relaxed, and they chewed some time off the clock. Sherando pulled to within 10 at 45-35 heading into the final period.

“We came out flat in the first half,” Sherando sophomore Morgan Sirbaugh said. “So, we came out with a lot more intensity in the second half. We tried to keep up with them, but it was too late in the game.”

Unlike past games for the Colonels, turnovers were not a problem. They only had 11 for the game and committed just two fouls in the first half.

“That’s the lowest amount of turnovers we have ever had in a game,” Slider said. “We try to press upon them about the turnovers and how they can change games, and tonight was one of those changes.”

After the Colonels went back up by 15 in the fourth quarter, the Warriors went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to seven, but that was as close as they would get. Wood went to the free throw line 10 times in the quarter and shot 47 foul shots for the game, converting 30 of them.

“When you’re down that far you start forcing shots,” Davis said. “A lot of our shots in the fourth quarter were on the rim and then they rolled off, but they were shooting at the same basket that we are. [It’s] just that theirs were falling and ours were not.”

Sirbaugh led the Warriors with 14 points, while seniors Brooklyn Wilson and Taylor Henshaw added 11.