Gallery by Heather Belcher
Abby Dillon has become accustomed to hitting big shots over her young career.
Friday night the Woodrow Wilson sophomore standout was at it again in a battle with John Marshall.
Pouring in 24 points on the night, Dillon hit the crucial shots to keep the Monarchs at arms reach and send her team home with a hard fought 63-53 win.
Coming off a tough overtime loss to South Charleston Tuesday, Woodrow Wilson head coach Brian Nabors liked what he saw from his team.
“John Marshall is a very good basketball team and a well-coached basketball team,” Nabors said. “I am proud of our girls. We accepted the challenge after a heartbreaking loss the other night. They came out with (a high) intensity level and focus. I applaud the effort. It was a great team effort. I thought our pressure made the difference in the game.”
The visitors took the initial lead on a pair of free-throws from Kayli Derrow before Woodrow’s high octane pressure started to cause John Marshall some issues.
Two buckets each from Lataja Creasey and Leiloni Manns gave the Flying Eagles a brief lead before the Monarchs roared back.
Trailing 13-11, back-to-back scores from Derrow and a triple from freshman Rilee Storm gave John Marshal a 19-13 lead with 36 seconds left in the quarter.
Just when it looked as if the Monarchs were in command, two layups from Mya Wooton and a buzzer beating 2-pointer from Dillon evened the game at 19 apiece in a blink.
It was the first of three straight buzzer beaters for the Flying Eagles on the night.
“We had played so hard to get that 19-13 lead and we had three girls on the court asking to come out because they were tired,” John Marshall head coach Brock Melko explained. “I had subs at the table and I thought about burning a timeout, but it was less than a minute. Looking back, I should have called the timeout. They ended on that run and tied the game.”
Although Dillon opened the second period by nailing a long range bomb, John Marshall answered with a free-throw and buckets from Storm and Kaitlyn Blake to regain the lead.
Unfortunately for the visitors, that would be their final lead of the night.
A triple from Dillon gave the lead back to the Flying Eagles and just over a minute later, Woodrow exploded on an 8-0 run to take a nine-point lead.
The Monarchs trimmed the lead to six points, but Woodrow pushed the advantage back to nine when Creasey nailed the buzzer-beater 3-pointer just before the halftime horn.
“Before the half we were down six and I switched to a zone and Creasey hit the big 3 before the half,” Melko lamented. “I was happy with that because they threw it to Dillon on the wing first. We took away their shooter, but then Creasey knocked it in.”
Creasey’s play-making ability was key all night for the Flying Eagles. The senior guard also finished with 14 points.
“Lataja did a really good job running the show. I thought she recognized situations where she could attack and get to the basket where she converted or got to the free-throw line which is good for our team,” Nabors said. “That opens it up for Abby and Abby hit some shots tonight. That really helps us. We have to play through Lataja Creasey. We are only going to be as good as Lataja is going to be. She has to be that threat because everybody is going to be focused on Abby Dillon. We believe Lataja can get it done.”
With Woodrow leading by eight points with three minutes to play in the third quarter, Dillon drilled her third 3-ball of the night which was followed by a lay-up from Donya Burton for a 13-point lead.
John Marshall cut the lead to 10 points before Woodrow stung them again with more end of quarter heroics.
After Burton scored on another lay-up with 15 seconds left in the quarter, Creasey found Dillon open on the next possession for her fourth trifecta and a 54-39 lead.
“The end of quarters were kind of my fault. If we could have taken those away we may have had a different result,” Melko said. “They are exactly what we expected. I told the team that we probably won’t see a quicker, more aggressive and hard playing team. That is exactly what we got tonight.”
After a tough opening game Tuesday against South Charleston, Melko knew Dillon would be primed for a good night.
“They have some really players. I knew Dillon had struggled some Tuesday and I told them on the trip down that she was going to go off. She is better than what it showed Tuesday,” Melko said. “She just hit so many big shots and tough shots. It was to the point at the end where we just basically face-guarded her and helped off everybody else, but they complimented her well with their other players.”
John Marshall made the game a bit uncomfortable for Woodrow down the stretch by finally finding some success in the paint, especially with Derrow and Blake.
“Blake really hurt us. We knew they were going through the high-post and the last couple of days at practice we worked on how we wanted to play,” Nabors said. “They just manhandled us, but she can really play.”
Derrow led the Monarchs with 20 points and Blake added 18 points.
“Kaylee Derrow played one of the best games she has played. She played so hard and went to the basket. Kaitlyn has played well all year and Lilie (Babiczuk) played well for us,” Melko said. “When we were able to take care of the ball, good things happened. We just have to do a much better job of doing that all the time.”
Melko brought his team to the southern part of the state for an early season challenge, but also with postseason experience in mind.
“This was absolutely awesome. We talked about our goal of getting to Charleston and I told them when we get there, we will see teams like Woodrow and Greenbrier East,” Melko said. “I would play these games six nights a week if we could to prepare us for March. The student section was into it. It was loud. It felt like basketball. It was awesome.”
John Marshall (3-2) travels to Greenbrier East Saturday, while Woodrow Wilson (1-1) makes a trip to Bluefield Tuesday.
JM: 19 10 10 14 – 53
WW: 19 19 16 9 – 63
John Marshall
Kayli Derrow 20, Rilee Storm 5, Masyn Inclan 4, Kaitlyn Blake 18, Lilie Babiczuk 6. Totals: 16 18-23 – 53.
Woodrow Wilson
Abby Dillon 24, Lataja Creasey 14, Sarah Hopkins 3, Leiloni Manns 9, Taylor Gunter 2, Donya Burton 7, Mya Wooton 4. Totals: 25 7-12 63.
3-pointers: JM 3 (Derrow 2, Storm); WW: 6 (Dillon 4, Creasey, Hopkins).