James Wood HS Basketball

Wood girls top Sherando for Hall's first win
By MARK SAWYER For The Wi******er Star 11 hrs ago

WI******ER — The intensity was high on Friday night with James Wood and Sherando searching for their first wins, and in the end, it was the Colonels who earned a historic victory.

Joe Hall earned his first win as James Wood's head coach in a girls' basketball game in which the Colonels never trailed. James Wood won 36-28 over its Northwestern District rival at Shirley Gymnasium and kept Regina Downing from getting her first win in her debut season as the Warriors' head coach.

The Colonels improved to 1-3 after making the final deficit in their three losses smaller each time out to start the season. James Wood lost by 52 to Clarke County, by 24 to Strasburg the first time and by 15 to the Rams in the rematch.

"I was extremely proud of the girls," Hall said. "We had a tough stretch there. We played a lot of good, quality teams and they took their lumps, but they battled through adversity. To come out tonight and play the way they played, with the energy, I was just proud.

"It was a complete team effort. I think we played everybody on the team. I was most impressed with the ability to convert from the free throw line. That really helped us, especially in some key moments."

In the early going, both offenses were as cold as the outside temperature.

With just over a minute gone James Wood opened the scoring on a basket by Kooper Hall as she drove down the lane uncontested, which led to an immediate Sherando (0-5) timeout.

It took over two minutes before either team scored again, with Sherando tying the score with a pair of free throws by Avery Ryan.

Wood would take the lead for good with 1:22 left in the first quarter on a putback by Hailey Harlow. The Colonels held a 5-3 advantage after the first period.

Colonels sophomore Lillian Harlow got the scoring started in the second quarter when she buried a long 3-pointer for an 8-3 lead. That sparked an 8-1 run to open the quarter for Wood.

It was the only field goal the Colonels hit in the second quarter. But during the run they made 5 of 6 free throws, including two each by Lillian Harlow and Dayana Jackson. Jackson's pair made it 13-4 with 51 seconds left in the half.

Sherando didn't score its first field goal of the game until there were only two seconds left in the half, with Lillian Smith's putback making it 13-6.

Leading 16-9, the Colonels responded with a 5-0 run, with each point coming on free throws, to make it 21-9. Aubrey Nail (seven points) and Carlee Kees each made a pair and Erin Link made it 21-9 when she hit 1 of 2 free throws.

On the next two Sherando possessions, Kinsley Richardson (team-high 12 points as well as five rebounds and four steals) drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to six (21-15). Nail pushed the lead back to eight (23-15) on a fast-break layup, only to see Richardson knock it back to six with two free throws.

With 19 seconds left, Jackson's free throw gave Wood a 24-17 lead. But then Theresa Basile (five rebounds, five steals, three assists) buried a trey to make it 24-20 with eight minutes to play.

"They have some great shooters. They're well coached," Hall said. "I told our girls we've got to weather the storm. They're making a run. If we could weather the storm, we could pull away. I felt like we had a chance to pull out the victory."

Jackson opened the fourth for the Colonels with a three-point play that sparked an 8-2 run that gave Wood a 32-22 advantage with 4:45 left. During the run Jackson (game-high 14 points to go with a team-high seven rebounds) scored seven points. James Wood expanded its lead to 36-24 with 57 seconds left.

Wood made only three field goals in the fourth but hit 6 of 13 free throws in the quarter and 19 of 37 for the game. Both teams made eight field goals in the game but Sherando was only 8 of 14 from the line.

"We've got to learn to play without fouling," Downing said. "I take my hat off to [James Wood]. The game plan they had was to attack us, and they attacked us. They attacked us all night long. They attacked us in the paint. We couldn't keep anyone in front of us. We just didn't know where we were.

"We'll continue to watch some film, see where we went wrong and get into the gym and continue to work. We've got to keep grinding and focusing on the fundamentals and doing the little things. We're just young."

Downing said the Warriors didn't always have the focus, energy and effort they needed. But Sherando did make a strong push to end the third quarter and fourth quarter. With 19 seconds left in the game, Giana Sloane (team-high seven rebounds) made it 36-26 on a putback, and in the closing seconds Ryan (five rebounds, two steals) got a steal at midcourt and finished off the scoring with a layup for the 36-28 final.

"I liked how we stayed aggressive and continued to fight," Downing said. "We'll see them again, and I guarantee the next time we play them, we'll be better. I like where we are and the things we're doing right now. It's all positive. We're OK. To me, the positives outweigh the negatives."

Hall is glad that James Wood's determination paid off on Friday.

"The girls have really worked hard [to win]," Hall said. "It wasn't going to come easy.

"We still have a lot of growing to do. I'm really excited. Every time we touch the floor, I see growth. And any time you see that as a coach, it's something you feel good about."

The Colonels won't have long to savor the win as they are back in action Saturday with a road trip to Berryville for the rematch with Clarke County. Sherando is in the middle of five straight road games. The Warriors next play Wednesday at Kettle Run.

Varsity Girls doing their annual Bell Ringing. 😍🏀

https://x.com/jtuman21/status/1992258323476021303?s=46&t=MqY7Z8LT4-9PxmzyKFZ4SA
4th straight win! Way to go ladies!!! 🏆

Joe Tuman (@JTuman21) on X

So proud of our volleyball team! Good luck today at States!! 🍀

James Wood volleyball's tough schedule prepared it for another state championship match Over the past four seasons, James Wood volleyball has experienced unquestioned success.

Tryouts start tomorrow!

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