Thorne leads Wood to win over Clarke

December 20, 2010

By MARK SAWYER
The Winchester Star       

BERRYVILLE- After just over a week off, James Wood High School girls basketball coach Rhonda Slider wasn't sure what to expect from her team when they returned to action Saturday night at Clarke County.

It didn't help any that weather had kept the Colonels from holding a full practice since last Wednesday.

However when you have a weapon like senior Shannan Thorne controlling things down in the paint, a lot of those questions and concerns become very easy to answer.

Thorne had game highs with 25 points and 17 rebounds, leading the Colonels to a 54-43 non-district road victory over Clarke County Saturday night.

Not only was Thorne dominant on both ends of the floor, she was clutch when she needed to be.

After hitting just 4-of-11 free throws through the first three quarters, she knocked down 7-of-8 in the fourth and scored 11 of Woods' 16 points to secure the victory. "She's [Thorne] tough inside, we know she can score for us," Slider said. "We were happy with the second half. The first half we struggled some. Saturday games seem to be really rough sometimes, and I think we came in and struggled in the first half. After halftime, we came out and tried to be a little stronger."

For Clarke County (2-4), it was the second game in as many nights against a Northwestern District opponent and both games had similar story lines.

Both nights the Eagles found themselves down 10 early and put together a fierce fourth quarter rally but were unable to get over the hump, losing both by nearly 10 points. Though many questions may have surfaced following Friday night's loss, Saturday's was self explanatory.

After a cold night shooting Friday, the Eagles were absolutely frigid Saturday night. Clarke missed 55 shots on the night and only made one field goal in both the first and fourth quarters. Poor shooting and the inability to stop Thorne inside cost the Eagles.

"Shooting [like we did] you're not going to beat anyone," Clarke County coach Tim Lawrence said. "Congratulations go out to James Wood and their kids. They came in and did what they had to do tonight.

"Obviously we didn't shoot the ball very well, we didn't pass the ball very well and a lot of that has to do with James Wood. Their kids stepped up and made plays and our kids just made too many mistakes to be successful."

"Our decision making tonight is what I was really disappointed with. We made a lot of bad passes and didn't take open shots. Offensively, we just really struggled."

The Eagles made just 12 field goals for the game, and their shooting woes started early. In the first quarter alone Clarke shot just 1-for-21 and found itself trailing 13-3 after the first quarter.

James Wood (3-1) didn't exactly dominate the first quarter, making only five field goals of their own, but they were able to build the 10-point advantage with points from all five starters.

Clarke opened the second by scoring the first seven points to shave the lead down to just three (13-10) and had a chance to get closer but missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

On the other end, Wood senior Kelsey Seymour knocked down a pair of free throws that sparked a seven-point Colonel run and pushed the lead back to 10 (20-10).

Seymour scored eight first-half points to lead the Colonels to a 24-16 advantage at the half.

From there, the second half belonged to Thorne - at least on the Colonels side of the court.

Thorne scored seven of her 25 points in the third quarter and 11 more in the fourth, accounting for 18 of Wood's 30 points in the second half.

With just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Eagles continued to charge back and Kasey Canterbury hit a pair of free throws that cut the deficit to 34-32 - the closest Clarke had been since early in the first.

Thorne, however, made sure the Eagles wouldn't get any closer. Her layup the next time down the floor pushed the lead to four and 30 seconds later she hit two free throws for a 38-32 lead. Thorne made 9 of her last 10 free throws, including 7-of-8 in the fourth quarter and 4-for-4 in the last 3:35 of the game to help the Colonels seal the victory.

With Clarke's inability to make a field goal in the fourth quarter and Thorne not missing from the line, the Eagles not couldn't close the gap.

The Eagles tried to stay close from the line but were only able to hit 8-of-12 in the fourth quarter and 15-of-26 for the game.

Seymour was the only other Colonel in double figures with 14 points. Sarah Callaham and Katelyn Pennington chipped in six points each.

Canterbury led the Eagles with 16 points.