James Wood girls flip earlier result against Sherando

WINCHESTER — While the James Wood girls’ basketball team fell by 20 points against Handley on Wednesday, the Colonels actually left Maddex-Omps Gymnasium feeling a little different about themselves.

And two days later, they couldn’t have posted a result that was more different against another rival.

James Wood, which had lost by 27 points against Sherando earlier in the season, completely flipped that result by belting the Warriors 53-28 at Shirley Gymnasium.

Brooklynn Medina notched 21 points and Josie Russell had 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Colonels turned the tables on cold-shooting Sherando.

While falling behind big at halftime against the Judges, James Wood held a 21-15 edge over the final 16 minutes primarily against the Handley starters.

“We beat them in the second half,” Medina said. “I think it gave us a little bit of confidence knowing that if we did that the whole game it would have been a different outcome.”

“No matter what the outcome of the score is, you’ve got to play to the end,” Colonels coach Sanford Silver said. “I thought we fought those last two quarters and won the second half at Handley. We built off of that momentum coming into our home base.”

And while James Wood (5-9, 2-3 district) had a measure of confidence facing an opponent that whipped them 50-23 three weeks ago, the Warriors entered the game struggling to pry the lid off the basket. Sherando (6-6, 2-2) had been held to 33 points or less in three of its previous four games.

“It’s frustrating because we are getting good shots,” Sherando coach Brooklyn Wilson said. “We knock them down in practice. We just have got to figure out how to be more successful and get them in that game mind-set.”

Aside from the site of the game, the biggest difference Friday was the presence of Russell, the Colonels’ leading scorer and rebounder who was not in the building for the first meeting between the two teams because of an illness.

She made a big impact in the first half. Russell had seven points in the opening quarter, nailing a 3-pointer to give James Wood a 14-6 lead at the end of the period. The 6-foot post would add five more points, including another 3-pointer, in the second period as James Wood’s lead ballooned to 26-12 at the half.

“It was awesome,” Russell said of helping the Colonels win. “It was just the way the team flowed. It was moving the ball quicker, staying with our man and hustling at every single moment we could.”

“Having Josie in the middle helps us out a lot,” Medina added. “We can work the post, kick it out and she can get in and get a basket.”

Silver said that both Russell and Medina, who had 10 points in the first half, made a big difference.

“Having [Josie] back and having Brooklynn Medina really taking charge of the offense, we stayed true to what we came to work on,” he said. “It’s just trusting the system. We ran the system. We trusted the system and executed.”

The Colonels’ man-to-man defense also paid dividends. The Warriors committed 11 turnovers and went 5 of 19 from the floor in the first half.

“Anytime that you’re not scoring the ball and then you’re probably giving half of your possessions back to the other team, you’re going to have to shoot well to make up for that,” Wilson said. “Having [poor shooting and turnovers] tonight, not staying in front of dribblers, getting hit by screens, all of that is just a recipe for a disaster. We definitely saw that in the first half.”

The Colonels kept the pedal mashed in the second half. Maddie Shirley had two baskets, while Medina and Aubrey Nail added one apiece as James Wood sank its first four shots from the field to push its lead to 35-14.

“It kept our momentum going from the first half,” said Medina, who would score the final five points in the period to push James Wood’s lead to 40-16. Sherando was 2 for 13 from the floor, both baskets from Paige McKee.

Sherando never got closer than 20 points (at 44-24 and 48-28) in the final period.

Nayah Edwards added nine points and 12 rebounds for the Colonels, while playing tough pressure defense. Shirley notched seven boards.

Both Russell and Medina said the win was a confidence builder for the Colonels going forward. Their coach agreed.

“I think it’s going to elevate us,” Silver said. “I think if you see my record in my tenure, we’ve won probably eight, nine or 10 in a row for two years straight. I told them coming in here today we need to start the winning streak right now and it starts tonight. They definitely delivered it here for me.”

Asia Williams and McKee had six points each to lead a disappointed Sherando squad.

“I think it’s frustrating when you know you are capable of doing something and you’re just not doing it,” Wilson said. “Especially in a game situation, it’s like quicksand. You miss a few shots and you get frustrated. You turn the ball over and you get frustrated. You miss a rotation on defense and all of that stuff starts rolling together. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping our heads up and letting that stuff start to take us over.”

James Wood next hosts Liberty on Monday, while Sherando welcomes Brentsville on Tuesday.

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