WINCHESTER — The wind is back in Handley girls’ basketball’s sails.
After an 0-6 start, the Judges have won five of their last six, improving to 5-7 with a 52-26 rout of James Wood at home on Tuesday. The Colonels fell to 1-8.
Handley displayed toughness and tenacity against its local rival, forcing 18 turnovers and winning the rebounding battle 35-15. The Judges especially dominated on the offensive glass, hauling in 15 offensive rebounds, including 12 in the first half. They led 25-2 at the break.
Senior small forward Reagan Edsell stood out with 23 points, two blocks and a steal, while junior power forward Reese Craig scored 11 points and tallied four assists. Together, Edsell and Craig combined to sink 11 of Handley’s 12 made free throws.
Edsell missed the Judges’ first five games due to injury, but has averaged 25.1 points per game since her return. Over that stretch, her team is 5-2. The NCAA Division I James Madison commit said she’s “been feeling good” and believes her return has helped things fall into place.
“I think we needed a leader on the court, which we had, but I think [with me] just being here for a while, for three years now, helps bring some experience for the younger people,” Edsell said. “Obviously, we have a pretty new-ish team, and so just getting those people up to speed with what we were doing [was important]. So I think I was helpful with that.”
Handley’s roster features four underclassmen, many of whom have played significant minutes this season. Having Edsell back to attract defensive attention has been instrumental in the Judges’ recent improvement.
While Edsell was certainly productive, it was arguably Craig who most effectively created shots for her teammates against the Colonels. Frequently receiving the ball around the nail (the center of the free throw line) or in the paint, she’d either attack the basket and get fouled or pivot and kick out to shooters like senior Kaydin McCaskill or freshman Nashelle Powell, who each buried a triple.
Handley finished with six made threes, and McCaskill nearly added a seventh with a foot-on-the-line two. Edsell was also on the receiving end of some of Craig’s passes, including a corner three that gave the Judges a 3-0 lead after 66 seconds. Handley head coach Katlyn Orndorff said Craig’s playmaking played a big role.
“Especially against the zone [defense], it’s good for us to move the ball,” Orndorff said. “She’s an important piece of that, moving it inside and out, getting the defense to shift off so we can get that open look. And I think that’s how we got some of those open looks for the three.”
The Judges’ outside shooting and impressive rebounding total were crucial, especially because their shots inside the arc weren’t falling at a high rate. Overall, they shot 34.7% from the field, but it didn’t matter because they held the Colonels to 0-of-13 shooting in the opening half.
Another made three by Edsell extended the first quarter lead to 6-0 at the 5:10 mark before a three from senior Cameron Hobson and a pair of free throws from McCaskill gave Handley an 11-0 advantage heading into the second quarter.
Handley utilized a full-court press effectively in the second, hounding James Wood and limiting it to only five shot attempts in the frame. The Judges initially struggled to score until Edsell struck on a putback to make it 13-0 with 6:16 remaining before halftime.
Craig soon found McCaskill for her long two, before the guard later made a corner three to make it 19-1 with 2:58 left before the break. Edsell added four more points before Powell got on the board with a mid-range jumper with 35 seconds on the clock. This allowed the Judges to head to the locker room up 23. Juniors Dayana Jackson and Erin Link each made a free throw to get the Colonels on the board.
James Wood head coach Joe Hall said his team has several young players who are “cutting their teeth” on the court this season, adding that Handley’s effort and experience gave his players trouble.
“They have a Division I athlete that helps them out a lot inside, and they have some really good post players, and they’re well coached,” Hall said. “They hit the glass hard, and they shoot the ball well from outside. And it’s hard to replicate that in practice. We tried to work on it, tried to work on boxing out, but ultimately, they did a little bit better job of executing than we did, especially in the first half.”
Hall said he liked his team’s resiliency in the final two quarters, and for good reason. The Colonels outscored the Judges 10-6 early in the third quarter after Jackson caused chaos defensively.
She stole the ball and passed to a cutting Lillian Harlow for two, scored after Link stole the ball and found her in transition and finally put it all together by engineering a steal-and-score to cut the deficit to 31-12 with 4:46 on the clock. She finished with a team-high 11 points, while Link added seven.
“Dayana had a great game,” Hall said. “She brings a lot of energy for us on the defensive end. She’s also our leading scorer for the season so far. She did a great job, kind of rallying the troops a little bit. We’re on the road in a tough environment, but I was really excited and proud of her performance.”
After Jackson’s basket, Craig and Edsell did damage down low, scoring six combined points around the basket and at the foul line to strengthen the lead (37-14) with 3:29 left in the third. Craig later found Powell for a 3-pointer, making it 40-14 at the 1:50 mark.
Edsell added four more points, while also blocking a Link layup attempt, helping Handley end the quarter on a 9-0 run to go up 44-14 heading into the final stretch.
In the fourth, Handley shot 2 of 8 from the field and 4 of 8 at the foul line en route to being outscored by the Colonels 12-8. Link and Jackson each made a 3-pointer, helping the visitors finish the second half shooting 52.6%.
Even with its late-game struggles, Handley’s hot start and imposing defense proved substantial. The Judges got the job despite losing junior Autumn Wotring pregame and freshman Maliyah Hines mid-game to injury. Orndorff said she’s “optimistic” that neither injury is anything worse than a rolled ankle.
After this win, Handley will host Skyline at 7:30 on Friday, while James Wood will host Millbrook at 6 the same day.
Heading into the game against the Hawks, Craig said she’s felt the Judges’ chemistry grow with each win.
“We had a lot of shots [tonight], and we’ve been working on our rebounding, for sure. That was something that we needed to improve at the beginning of the season,” Craig said. “I definitely think we’ve come together more as a team and learned how to work together and improve our play on both sides of the ball.”
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
Follow him on X @jtuman21