WINCHESTER — In what will go down as an instant classic, Millbrook forced a couple more key turnovers, made just enough free throws, and got the last huge basket of the game to slip past James Wood 53-52 in high school girls’ basketball on Friday night at the Colonels’ Shirley Gymnasium Friday night.
With the win, the Pioneers snapped a modest two-game losing streak and moved into third place in the Region 4D standings heading into the last week of games. Both Millbrook and James Wood are 12-8 overall, but the Pioneers have the tiebreaker after sweeping the season series with the Colonels.
“Just found a way,” Millbrook coach Cary Bartlett said of the victory. “Right now a win carries a little bit more weight here at the end of the season. Not 100% pleased and I know [James Wood coach] Sanford [Silver] is not either. It came down to a multitude of plays on both ends of the floor for both teams and I guess we just ended up making one more play.”
Millbrook — which trailed by six points twice in the second quarter — took the lead for good at 52-51 with 21 seconds left and went up 53-51 with eight seconds remaining.
“Both teams played very aggressive,” Bartlett said. “We both have aggressive styles. We got lucky some of the balls [from Wood] didn’t find the bottom of the net and we made just enough plays.”
Each team’s leading scorer for the season rose to the occasion on Friday. James Wood’s Josie Russell had a game-high 24 points while Millbrook’s Jaliah Jackson was right behind her with 23 points. Jackson scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to lead a Pioneers comeback.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Wood (3-4 Class 4 Northwestern District) held a 37-33 advantage and went up 39-33 when Russell scored just 13 seconds into the quarter.
Jackson answered for Millbrook (6-0 district) with five straight points on back-to-back three-point play opportunities to pull the Pioneers within one at 39-38.
After a Wood timeout, Russell hit a pair of free throws and Aubrey Nail drilled her second 3-pointer of the game to give the Colonels another six-point advantage at 44-38.
Millbrook fought back, and with 1:46 left Jackson hit a pair of free throws to tie the game 47-47. In the last 1:36 there were four lead changes, starting with Wood’s Hailey Harlow making a pair of free throws for a 49-47 advantage.
On the next trip down the floor Millbrook sophomore Abriana Harrison — playing I just her fifth game since being called up from the JV team — made the shot of her young career when she buried a 3-pointer to give the Pioneers their first lead of the fouth quarter at 50-49 with 1:17 remaining.
Coming out of a timeout, Russell give the lead back to Wood at 51-50 with two free throws with 28 seconds remaining.
Another Millbrook youngster scored the biggest basket of the game on the next possession. Freshman Mackenzie Jones held the dribble at the top of the key, saw an opening down the lane and shot through it to bank in a layup with 21 seconds left for a 52-51 Pioneers lead.
Wood turned the ball over on their next trip down the floor and were forced to foul. With eight seconds left, Jackson made 1 of 2 shots from the line to make it 53-51.
Russell took the inbound pass and bulled her way towards midcourt. She was fouled just in front of the scorer’s table with six seconds left. She made 1 of 2 free throws to cut Millbrook’s lead to 53-52.
After the Pioneers missed two more free throws, Russell’s half-court heave came up short and the Pioneers escaped with the one-point victory.
“We’ve got to finish big time free throws, and we’ve got to protect the basketball,” said Silver, whose team made 3 of 6 shots from the line in the last 1:15 of the game. “We have to protect the ball more down the stretch. We had a seven-point lead, we turned it over multiple times to a good team and it just can’t happen that way.
“We didn’t have trouble with the press. The guard play has to know what to do next. The press didn’t kill us, it’s what we did in the press. We execute better than that.”
Millbrook scored the last four points of the first quarter and held a 17-14 lead after eight minutes. The Colonels only made two field goals in the first but kept themselves in the game by hitting 10 of 13 free throws. Russell and Hailey Harlow each had six points. Jackson led the way for Millbrook with eight points.
Millbrook led 28-20 with 3:05 left in the second quarter, but the Colonels closed on an 8-0 to send the teams to the locker rooms tied 28-28. Russell scored five in the quarter and had 11 at the break. For Millbrook the Moreland sisters did all the second quarter scoring. Jane led all scorers with seven and younger sister Grace, another freshman, scored four of her nine points in the second period.
Wood outscored the Pioneers 9-5 in the third quarter and took a 37-33 lead heading into the fourth. The Colonels only made 2 of 10 free throws in the third quarter.
Hailey Harlow was the only other player in double figures for Wood, scoring 10 points while going 8-for-8 from the line for the Colonels and Nail added seven.
“I think it was a pretty good game between two good teams,” Silver said. “Both teams were in foul trouble, and we were fighting hard for our organizations, and I thought both programs did do that. We’ve just got to finish games. We played hard against a good Millbrook team, so it gives us a ray of hope.”
Things don’t get any easier for the Colonels. On Monday they play Handley for the second time in a week, this time at home. Millbrook is off until next Friday when they travel to Handley for the rematch, hoping to sweep the Judges in the season series.