The James Wood varsity basketball teams were defeated rather soundly by the Sherando Warriors in their first matchups on January 3, but the Colonels exacted revenge by winning both contests on Tuesday in the Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.  The girls jumped to a 23-17 lead at the end of the first quarter as several players hit open three-pointers.  The Warriors kept the rest of the game close, outscoring Wood 13-7 in the third period and closing the gap with under a minute to play. The Colonels took advantage of bonus free throws and kept the surging Warriors from tieing the game late, then held on for a 57-55 win. Amber Woodridge and Amanda Christian each scored 16, Makayla Firebaugh scored 15 and had 14 rebounds, and Hannah Arnold scored 9 while adding 3 blocks and 7 rebounds.

The boys' team held slim leads at the end of each quarter and were able to handle--though shakily at times--a tight Sherando press in the final two minutes and hit key free throws to come away with a 47-43 win.   The wins by the Colonels were especially satisfying since they were the Conference 21 West "counter" games that will determine conference tournament seeding.  Top performers for the boys were Aidan Houser with 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists; Noah Sullivan with 12 points and 9 rebounds;  and Trenton Campbell with 13 points.

With the wins, the boys improved to 2-3 in conference play while the girls improved to 4-1.  The final conference game will be on February 3 at Handley.