Brian Lewis/The Gazette
Johanna Lopez drives to the basket during the second half comeback by the Blazer girls Tuesday night hosting Sherwood.
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It wasn't pretty, but the Sherwood boys basketball team did all it needed during a 41-24 win at Blair Tuesday night, snapping a two-game skid.
The Warriors (5-7, 2-3 Montgomery 4A East) were especially effective on defense, getting just enough offensively. Led by senior forward Sosthene Kapepula and senior guard Devin Thomas, each of whom scored nine points, Sherwood worked the ball inside and out to keep the Blazers (4-7, 1-3) scrambling. Senior guard Brad Bolen added eight points.
Sherwood dominated the boards, outrebounding Blair 43-17, and held the Blazers to a season-low 24 points. 6-foot-8 Blair center Leon Sampson, the team's leading scorer, only managed 7 points Tuesday, while second option Mike McLain only mustered two. Wayne Henderson scored six points for the Blazers.
"Our focus is to stop everyone," Sherwood coach Dondrell Whitmore said. "We kept changing our defense to throw them off. … With such a low-scoring game, every point was important. We learned to be patient."
Thomas scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter to get Sherwood off to a 12-5 lead. The Warriors outscored Blair 8-2 in the second quarter, taking a commanding 20-7 halftime lead.
"We can take a lot of confidence out of this game," Whitmore said. "We came out and ran our sets. We rebounded well. There's a lot we can build on as we prepare for the next week's games."
Blair girls rally
The Blair girls' biggest problem this winter has been fizzling in the second half of games.
That wasn't the case Tuesday night.
The Blazers (6-5, 2-1) rallied from 20 points down during a 57-51, come-from-behind win over Montgomery 4A East rival Sherwood, even after playing its worst first half of the season. They took their head coach, Erin Conley, aback by falling behind by 37-17 in the first half. But they rebounded to outscore Sherwood (3-9, 2-3) 30-14 in the second half for their second straight win.
"The problem is we've been a first half team," said Conley. "So [Monday] in practice, we were so focused on playing well in the second. I think maybe they took that too literally. … I told the girls at halftime that they should be embarrassed and angry at themselves for playing that way and letting themselves get so far behind. They came out in the second half with the intensity we needed on defense."
Led by senior Taylor Stockinger (team-high 18 points) and Courtney Knight (12), Sherwood controlled the game early, but simply couldn't hit shots in the second half. Meanwhile, the Blazers got strong performances from Inkera Patterson (21), Ashley Arnold (13) and Johanna Lopez (9) to rally. Blair converted on 13 of 20 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter alone; Sherwood made 2 of 4.
"I'm so proud of these girls," Conley said. "They really showed how mentally tough they are. They're capable of anything this season."
