Gallery by Heather Belcher
Coaches often say it is not about how you start, it is about how you finish.
Friday night the Woodrow Wilson girls started slow, but finished with an 11-0 run to defeat upset-minded PikeView 48-37.
“I wasn’t happy about how we started the game. We really couldn’t get anything going,” Woodrow Wilson head coach Brian Nabors said. “I was happy though that we came back in the second half with more energy and more focus. It was a blessing that our team could execute down the stretch and make that run. There were good plays made by several players and it was a great team effort. I applaud the effort of the team.”
Trailing 36-34 after three quarters, Woodrow Wilson forced a quick turnover to start the final period. Freshman Abby Dillon then drilled a 3-pointer to give the Flying Eagles a one-point lead.
From that point forward, a defensive change by Woodrow caused PikeView trouble and the Panthers never could adjust.
“(Hannah) Perdue was killing us and we couldn’t stop her in the third quarter. I decided to change up the defense and that worked out for us,” Nabors said. “I was proud of the adjustment that they were able to make on the fly.”
PikeView head coach Tracy Raban was frustrated with her team’s reaction to the defensive change.
“We didn’t come out and finish the game. They picked up the defensive pressure and went to the zone in the fourth quarter and we just stood,” Raban said. “It’s not like we haven’t seen a zone. We saw it last night from Westside and we know how to attack it. It was like we just got complacent and stood and watched. (Woodrow) had more intensity than we did in the fourth quarter and that is what was frustrating.”
After a free throw from Perdue tied the game at 37-37 with 4:15 to play, the Flying Eagles made play after play to secure the win.
Lataja Creasey hit a huge 3 in transition before Olivia Ziolkowski and Josie Cross scored on back-to-back offensive rebounds.
While the scores were paramount in the win, so was the defense. A block from Cross stopped one score and steals from Dillon and Creasey created two more opportunities.
It was a big change from earlier in the game for Woodrow.
“We were playing hard, but we were making a lot of mental mistakes defensively in the first half,” Nabors said. “I thought we were ball watching and weren’t playing the pick and roll well. We were going to help and they were just dumping it off and getting easy looks.”
With PikeView forced to foul in the final minute, Dillon stepped in and made four straight free throws to seal the win.
Fighting some injury issues that left them short-handed, Nabors was happy to come out with the victory.
“This game was a great experience for those kids that don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” Nabors said. “Give PikeView credit. They have a really good team and they executed their offense well.”
Raban knew coming in that a win was a tall task for her team, but the loss was still hard to swallow.
“Obviously I wanted to win, but the main goal was to come here and compete. I feel like we could have come away with a victory, but they just took it away from us in the fourth quarter,” Raban said. “Defense wins championships. We were intense and enthusiastic, but that just went away in the fourth quarter. This is why we play these tough games so we can learn from it and get better.”
Dillon led the Flying Eagles with 19 points, while Ziolkowski added eight and Creasey had seven. Perdue led all scorers on the night with 22 points and Anyah Brown had 10 for the Panthers.
“We go as (Hannah) goes. She was fighting a stomach bug tonight. I think she came out in the second quarter and went back and threw up,” Raban said.
Woodrow Wilson is off for 11 days and will travel to Capital on Dec. 28. PikeView hosts Bluefield Monday.
PV: 12 11 13 1 – 37
WW: 4 17 13 14 – 48
PikeView
Brooke Craft 3, Hannah Perdue 22, Haley Justice 2, Anyah Brown 10.
Woodrow Wilson
Lataja Creasey 7 Olivia Ziolkowski 8, Josie Cross 4, Abby Dillon 19, Somalia Nelson 5, Maddy Belcher 3, Bella Staples 2.
3-pointer – PV: ; WW: 5 (Dillon 3, Creasey, Belcher)
