A note from the coaches...
Coach Parker...The Woods Girls Varsity B team came out ready to play when they faced their rival Norwood. The Owl's started the game in their 1-3-1 full court press and quickly got out to a 12 - 0 lead when the first quarter ended. Keeping the pressure on by changing the team defense to Man-to-Man during the second quarter, the team built a half-time lead of 14 points. To start the second half, the girls switched to their 1-3-1 half court defense and easily out rebounded Norwood throughout the second half. The team had a great game offensively and defensively. The girls scored 25 points, with everyone on the team contributing to the 25 point total and holding the Norwood team to only 2 points for the whole game. The girls have their final game of the season, on Wednesday, February 13, at Green Acres.
Coach Parker...The Woods Girls Varsity B team came out ready to play when they faced their rival Norwood. The Owl's started the game in their 1-3-1 full court press and quickly got out to a 12 - 0 lead when the first quarter ended. Keeping the pressure on by changing the team defense to Man-to-Man during the second quarter, the team built a half-time lead of 14 points. To start the second half, the girls switched to their 1-3-1 half court defense and easily out rebounded Norwood throughout the second half. The team had a great game offensively and defensively. The girls scored 25 points, with everyone on the team contributing to the 25 point total and holding the Norwood team to only 2 points for the whole game. The girls have their final game of the season, on Wednesday, February 13, at Green Acres.
From Coach Clubbs...The hallmark of any team sport is how they come together as one and improve each and every time they play together. This is exactly how the Varsity boys played their final games. Each and every game saw improvement in defense and offense. After the team scored a season high 19 points in a tough loss to Norwood, the boys bounced back to score 29 in a victory over Green Acres. I am very proud of the team for all they accomplished this year! Congratulations on what I see as a great season!
From Coach James...
The JV boys B team have had many games that could have gone either way, it was always a matter of a couple of plays or a matter of a few shots that did not sink in. This group of players always seemed determined to play a very aggressive defensive game. I am proud of the way The Woods players have always played with enthusiasm and gust... no matter what the score of the game is. Yesterday was the final game for the JV B team. The boys were pumped and ready to play their final game against Hebrew Academy. The game proved to be a hard battle, with all players giving a 100% effort in trying to win this final game. Great defensive effort was given by all of The Woods players, we came short of winning the game by 7 points. I am really proud of the boys for playing as hard as they could all season long. Given the way the boys played game after game, you would never know that they had a losing season. In my mind, we had a winning season because every player on the team learned to be determined and to never give up, these are great life lessons. I love the effort that was given each and every game, to me they are winners.
From Coach Ricca...
St. Andrew's Tournament. The girls had a tough time getting started on Saturday morning against St. John’s Episcopal. Nothing would fall; we couldn’t make a shot or lay-up, things that are usually so automatic for us. The half time score was 12 -1. I spoke with the girls, sharing words of encouragement, reminding them that even though we are having one of those games and nothing is going our way we were still only down by 11 points. We talked about going out strong and bringing on the intensity and being aggressive. The girls did just that and scored four quick points off of steals from our press. The second half was the same. The girls played hard and worked to get back in the game. They brought the game to a one score difference in the last minutes but unfortunately we could not clinch the win but the girls fought hard.
From Coach A...The JV girls B team has steadily improved over the course of the year. Just yesterday 2/5/13, they defeated Green Acres 14 to 6. The prior game this Woods team played the team (W.E.S.) that beat them early in the year. However, on this occasion the Woods girls were victorious. They have a 4-1 record.They play extremely tenacious defense and they are excellent passers. Most importantly, everyone supports one another and exhibits excellent sportsmanship. They love playing the game. I have had a wonderful time coaching this team!!!
The JV boys B team have had many games that could have gone either way, it was always a matter of a couple of plays or a matter of a few shots that did not sink in. This group of players always seemed determined to play a very aggressive defensive game. I am proud of the way The Woods players have always played with enthusiasm and gust... no matter what the score of the game is. Yesterday was the final game for the JV B team. The boys were pumped and ready to play their final game against Hebrew Academy. The game proved to be a hard battle, with all players giving a 100% effort in trying to win this final game. Great defensive effort was given by all of The Woods players, we came short of winning the game by 7 points. I am really proud of the boys for playing as hard as they could all season long. Given the way the boys played game after game, you would never know that they had a losing season. In my mind, we had a winning season because every player on the team learned to be determined and to never give up, these are great life lessons. I love the effort that was given each and every game, to me they are winners.From Coach Ricca...
Varsity Girls vs. Langley
I have never been more proud of a team! The Varsity girls left it all on the court in this game. They displayed courage, heart and a will to win!
We went up against a very tough Langley team. We are in first place on our side of the division and Langley is first on their side. So we knew it would be tough. They definitely were a height mismatch for us under the basket. We had a very difficult time stopping their post players. We got into foul trouble and an offensive slump. In the fourth quarter we were down by 20 points. But with 5 minutes left something clicked, I’ve never seen more heart or determination by a basketball team. It would have been easy for the girls to give up and hang their heads low but instead the girls did the opposite. They picked up the intensity on the full court press, going for steals, stopping the ball, and shutting down the post players who had been dominating all game. After great defensive stops Katherine and Carlota started hitting threes, putting us right back in the game. Within a few minutes Carlota drained three 3s and Katherine hit 2. The momentum and energy was going our way! The girls were diving for balls, taking it to the basket and making defensive stops. The intense and tough defense against Langley’s post players caused two Woods players to honorably foul out. The Woods took the led but unfortunately Langley tied it up to end it in regulation. But Woods was not done fighting. The girls smartly waited out the clock to score with 15 seconds left in OT. We had the lead 56 – 54 and our tough defense did not allow Langley a last chance to score. The largest comeback of any team I have every played on or coached! So proud of this team!
Stats –
Katherine –28 points with three 3s, Carlota – 18 points with four 3s, Mary- 4 points, Zoe 4 points, Elizabeth – 2 points
Varsity Girls vs. Norwood
The girls met up with Norwood for a second time this year but this time Norwood had home court advantage. All though we beat Norwood earlier this season it can be a little intimidating walking into the large Norwood gym. The girls did not let that faze them at all. We started strong with a full court press putting pressure on their guards. We had to adjust our offensive strategy since they were playing a 1-3-1 defense, a defense we don’t often encounter. It took a few times down the court to get our offense moving and fluid but it didn’t take long to put some points on the board. We scored from the perimeter and under the basket. Norwood put on the press but with a few passes we were able to break the press easily and score a few quick buckets. We were ahead at half time but we took a comfortable lead in the second half. In the fourth quarter Norwood made a few key shots to make the game close but nothing to discourage the girls. Woods came out on top with a 31 – 21 win.
We played in the consolation game vs. Washington Episcopal School. The girls were tired from the first game and a ski trip the day before but they still gave it their all. They came out strong. We started the game with full court press and took the lead. Each and every girl played hard and contributed either offensively or defensively. The feel of the game was way different than the first half of the first game. This girl’s stayed tough and pulled off a nice win to take third place in the tournament.
Woods Varsity Girls vs. ICS
The girls had their first away conference game in about three weeks at ICS. The gym was crowded with many ICS fans. The girls did not let in phase them and started off with their usually aggressive defense and pushed the ball up the court. We scored a few quick points and pulled ahead. The game was close from start to finish. Unfortunately ICS’s full court man defense wore down the Woods girls. With our point guard out other guards had to take over the position and began to get tired. We kept it close and fouled to stop the clock and scored with less than a minute left to make the score 20-18. We tried to foul again to stop the clock but this time ICS made 1 of their foul shots to make the final score 21-18 ICS. The girls played hard but this time we could not pull off the win. Carlota scored 7 points; Izzy had 5 points with a great 3 pointer. Zoe had 2 points and Lindsay had 4. Elizabeth continued to dominate on the defensive end with 4 blocks.
From Coach McCauley... Our game against Westminster proved to be a tough physical game that required a bit of aggressive play in order for The Woods girl's to stay competitive and in the game. If it had not been for our pressing defense, Westminster would have really taken it to us! The the game was very close in the first quarter, we were up 4-3 thanks to a beautiful power lay-up from Sidra and a mid range jump shot from Gracie. Number 50 on the Westminster team tried to control the game with her dominating presence, but we kept her on her toes by applying our triangle press against her, she was a one woman show. The score was 9-11 at the half, with Westminster winning. The second half proved to be just as tough and competitive as the first half! Woods took three charge calls against #50, causing her to be in foul trouble, this gave us an opportunity to dominate the game for a while. This may have been our best game of the season, as the girl's played a very intense and determined game throughout the whole game. We lost 23-19, but the score does not reflect the excitement that this game brought about... the gym was filled with cheering spectators! Maeve led the team with 6 points and 2 steals. Sidra led the team with 7 offensive and 3 defensive rebounds and 1 blocked shot. Great defensive effort by all!
From Coach Washington...Our last game of league play was against Langley, as usual the boys was excited. The seniors (6th graders) started the game in a very aggressive manner. It was a fast pace game that proved hard for Langley to keep up with. Dakota and Jean were unable to play the last game and they were missed, as Jean is a big help on grabbing rebounds and Dakota is a master at running the fast breaks. Overall, The Woods Academy had a great game they were very respectful and had excellent sportsmanship by not running up the score against the Langley squad. This was a rare game...everyone scored, this is what TEAM is all about! Congratulations to the JV A Boy's! Hard work and dedication has paid off, we are the number one seed in the CAC tournament.
From Coach Washington...Our last game of league play was against Langley, as usual the boys was excited. The seniors (6th graders) started the game in a very aggressive manner. It was a fast pace game that proved hard for Langley to keep up with. Dakota and Jean were unable to play the last game and they were missed, as Jean is a big help on grabbing rebounds and Dakota is a master at running the fast breaks. Overall, The Woods Academy had a great game they were very respectful and had excellent sportsmanship by not running up the score against the Langley squad. This was a rare game...everyone scored, this is what TEAM is all about! Congratulations to the JV A Boy's! Hard work and dedication has paid off, we are the number one seed in the CAC tournament.
