BY: JOSH KIRBY
TALKWINCHESTER.COM
WINCHESTER – The James Wood Lady Colonels fought off a last chance effort by Jefferson to claim their first victory to open the season 55-37.
The Colonels started the game with a fast pace as senior guard, Brynna Nesselrodt made three out of five attempted field goal shots along with an additional two free throws on four tries as Jefferson committed six fouls in the first quarter. The Colonels had ten total points in the first quarter and they only held Jefferson to four after the Colonels went with a “trap” defense towards the end of the quarter.
“We are trying to be a little aggressive this year” Head Coach of The Lady Colonels, Sanford Silver said about the “trap” defense the Colonels ran because of the youth of the Lady Colonels “to try and force turnovers to give us transitional play offense” Silver added.
James Wood continued the trend moving into the second quarter as sophomore guard Jolie Jenkins made three of five from inside the arc and she also went two for two from the free throw line. Nesselrodt added to the scoring with a huge three point shot. “She is a tough cookie to crumble” Silver said when asked about Nesselrodt’s performance in this matchup.
“For a season opener I think we did really well” Nesselrodt said in the Colonels 55-37 victory “we’re just going to grow from here” she also mentioned.
Into the third and fourth quarter Jefferson implemented a press defense of their own and they established a level of pressure on James Wood and forced a few Colonels turnovers. “We just have remain calm” Silver said, “we just gotta get better, we gotta stay on the drawing board” as Jefferson came away with eight points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth quarter, James Wood had 10 fouls in the third quarter mainly because of Jeffersons tight press defense which allowed the Cougars to come away with few free throws.
“With the hard work and tenacity that they (The Lady Colonels) bring to the table we will get it right” coach Silver said.
The Lady Colonels lead scorer was Brynna Nesselrodt with 28 points, Jolie Jenkins also had double digit scoring with 16 points, collectively the Colonels shot 50% from the free throw line and 27.1% from field goal range. “We moved the ball really well” sophomore Jolie Jenkins said
“For being so young, as a whole we did really well because having such a young team can be more difficult but with strong leaders it helps” Nesselrodt said. Jenkins said when asked about Nesselrodt, “She is a great leader”.
The Cougars lead scorer was Mackenzie Brezovec with 15 points, Taliyah Lindsey and Ciara Holmes both had six points, Jazmyn Taylor and Olivia Hedrick both had five points.
The Lady Colonels next matchup will be next week hosting Central.
