WINCHESTER — Both James Wood girls’ basketball and visiting Millbrook entered Friday’s game hungry for victory.
The Colonels came in on a five-game losing streak, while the Pioneers were looking to snap a six-game skid. Ultimately, it was Millbrook that got back on track, outscoring the Colonels 27-13 in the second half en route to a 52-29 win.
Senior center Jane Moreland led the way with 20 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two blocks, while her sister, sophomore guard Grace Moreland, tallied eight points and four steals. Sophomore wing Emily Randall recorded four points, six rebounds and five steals.
The Pioneers played aggressive defense all game, jumping into passing lanes and effectively utilizing a full-court press. This allowed them to force 25 James Wood turnovers, 22 of which came off steals.
Millbrook head coach Cary Bartlett said he was happy to see everything come together for his players.
“We needed to win really, really bad,” Bartlett said. “We’ve gone through a stretch of six really difficult teams and tough games, and I think, hopefully, that prepared us for tonight.”
During its six-game losing streak, Millbrook faced five teams with a winning record, along with a 5-7 Handley team that is 5-1 in its last six. With this challenging stretch behind them, the Pioneers were sharp on both ends right out of the gate against the Colonels. Jane Moreland said the team’s “eagerness” helped it focus and bring consistent effort across four quarters.
“It feels really good [to win]. I think we swung the ball a lot better tonight,” Moreland said. “We’ve been having a lot of good practices. I think we really took winter break and elevated our game, played a lot of good competition, and we’re starting to be able to tell on the court.”
The Pioneers certainly moved the ball well in the first quarter, as both Kaylyn Chandler and Lexi Welch made a catch-and-shoot three. Welch’s triple gave her team a 13-4 lead with 28 seconds left in the quarter.
Millbrook ended the quarter on a 10-2 run after being down 3-2 at the 4:40 mark. Moreland scored six points, getting a defender to bite on a pump fake before stepping in for a mid-range jumper to make it 9-3.
Randall brought defensive effort, intercepting passes to record four of her steals while helping force five Colonel first-quarter turnovers.
Bartlett said he’s been encouraging Randall, who leads the team with 60 3-point tries, to become a player who takes pride in excelling on both ends. He said her performance on Friday was a strong step in that direction.
“One thing that we’re talking about is that ‘your 3-point shooting isn’t the only thing that you do well, and it can’t be the only thing that you do that affects the game,’” Bartlett said. “She had six rebounds, five steals … defensively, she can be valuable to us. And I keep preaching to her that it can’t just always be about your shot.”
James Wood battled back to open the second, going on a 5-0 run that compounded to a 9-4 run after Malise Olah scored four points and assisted on a layup by Lillian Harlow. This cut Millbrook’s lead to 17-14 with 4:45 left before halftime.
Moreland, who’d already scored her team’s first four points of the quarter, swung the ball to Mackenzie Jones, who then found Chandler for a three to extend the lead to 20-14 with 4:33 to go. Minutes later, a pair of offensive rebounds by Moreland led to her making a putback layup to go ahead 25-14 with 34 seconds on the clock.
“I thought Jane had an advantage down low,” Bartlett said. “Consistently, we didn’t always get her the ball when we should have. She should have had probably even more [points], but we’ll take it, absolutely. She has great instincts around the rim. She does a good job of finding soft spots, getting them in the post, and she’s got a lot of counter moves as well.”
The Pioneers entered the locker room leading 25-16, outscoring the Colonels 12-10 in the quarter. Although James Wood showed more fight, its 2-of-8 performance at the foul line during the second frame hurt its chances of making a stronger comeback.
After the break, Millbrook put forth its best quarter of the night, outscoring James Wood 16-9 to go up 41-25.
One particularly impressive sequence came when the Pioneers ran a triangle action where Randall swung the ball from the corner to Grace Moreland on the wing, who then found her sister in the post for a spin-move score. Moments later, Grace stole the ball around midcourt and took it to the basket for two, making it 29-18 with 6:47 to go.
Later on, Grace fed Jane with an entry pass that set up a pivot and score at the rim for the center, before Grace stole James Wood’s inbound pass seconds later, got fouled on a made two-pointer and converted her and-1 chance to make it 41-20 with 93 seconds remaining in the third.
Across the entire quarter, the Moreland sisters accounted for 12 of their team’s points. Jane said she and Grace’s on-court chemistry comes naturally.
“Playing with my sister is probably my favorite thing that I get to do,” Moreland said. “We’ve just played together for so long that we know where we’re going to be, so defensively it helps. She can find me on offense really well, and it just helps that we’re kind of like a post-guard combo.”
Down the stretch, each team scored one basket in the first three minutes of the fourth. With 4:32 to go, Moreland scored her final basket of the night, reaching 20 points and giving her team a 45-27 lead.
After a bucket by James Wood’s Hailey Harlow, the Pioneers ended the game on a 7-0 run. With 1:44 remaining, Randall notched her final steal, missed a layup, got her own miss and drew a foul on the putback. She made both free throws to score her team’s final two points of the night.
James Wood was led by junior Dayana Jackson, who scored nine of her 11 points in the second half. She struck on three steal-and-score sequences in the third quarter, helping her finish with five takeaways.
Colonels’ head coach Joe Hall said he’s been impressed by Jackson this season.
“She has great instincts,” Hall said. “She plays with a lot of energy, and she’s just a player that hustles. A lot of times in tough games like that, it’s the small plays that make the big difference. I think as a team, we feed off her energy.”
In its next game, Millbrook will host Sherando next Friday at 7:30, while James Wood will visit Fauquier on Wednesday at 7:30.
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
Follow him on X @jtuman21