Girl's Basketball

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- Running the table for a second consecutive undefeated regular season may not have been one of the primary preseason goals for the Millbrook High School girls' basketball team, but the Pioneers are just two victories from doing just that.

The defending Group AA Division 3 state champions clinched their third straight Northwestern District regular season title with an 85-24 victory at James Wood Tuesday night.

"I just think we're playing good fundamental team basketball right now," Millbrook coach Debby Sanders said. "They just keep trying to execute what we're doing, and we're trying to get quality minutes for everyone. I think that's going to help us down the road." In typical fashion, the Pioneers (18-0, 7-0 Northwestern) broke the game open with a dominating first quarter run, and they never looked back in securing their 40th consecutive victory.

And in this win, the Pioneers proved they could make a big run even without their superstar.

Courtni Green scored to break a 5-5 tie with just over six minutes left in the first. Shortly after that, junior Lisa Merriman replaced Green in the lineup, and Wood's Erica Hepner's free throw cut the lead to 7-6.

But the Pioneers followed that up with a 13-0 run and finished the quarter outscoring the Colonels 16-3 for a 23-9 lead at the end of the period.

Four different Pioneers scored during the spurt, and junior Alisha Mobley led the way, scoring six of her 18 points in that stretch. Senior Emily White knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight of her 10 points in the first.

Green returned to the lineup in the second quarter and immediately showed there was nothing wrong, ripping away multiple steals which led to easy baskets. She finished with a game-high 25 points with 12 coming in the second quarter and nine more in the third.

The Pioneers outscored the Colonels 28-4 in the second quarter for a 51-13 halftime advantage. All 10 of the Millbrook players dressed saw significant playing time in the second half, and all but one scored.

James Wood (8-11, 0-6) had trouble with the Millbrook pressure all night and was only able to score 11 points in the second half. The Colonels had just two in the fourth quarter, and those didn't come until Halley DeHaven hit a short jumper with less then a minute left.

"They're not the defending state champs for no reason," James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said. "Our goal was to come out and give it our best shot and get some girls some more playing time.

"You always want to improve and go the extra mile and to push things. We still don't have the outside shooters we need to compete, but I'm proud of them. They gave a good effort. Our focus is on Skyline and Handley now. We played them both tough the first time."

In addition to the three starters who scored in double figures for the Pioneers, Merriman and Brooke Borlie added eight apiece off the bench, and Olivia Mason chipped in six.

The Colonels were led by Shannan Thorne's 10 points. Erica Hepner added seven.