Western girls basketball coach Kris Wright knows the formula is simple.
“Kids who work almost always reap the rewards,” Wright said. “It’s not rocket science.”
One player who has clearly put in the work is Sydney Sherman. Already an All-Jefferson District performer a year ago, Sherman has elevated her game and it showed Friday night as Western rolled 63-36 behind 25 points from the junior forward.
“We knew what shots we could get — we could run our offense because we knew how they played defense,” Sherman said. “The post was a lot of times open and I was able to get it in there.”
Sherman has improved her handle and emerged as a more deadly threat beyond the arc or off the dribble. That expanded versatility clearly gave Monticello some problems.
“She has put in a fierce amount of work, that allows her to play various positions for us and that just allows us to take advantage of what other teams give us,” Wright said.
Sherman’s explosive effort wasn’t limited to the offensive end. She also came up with four steals and added six rebounds. Western has seemed intent on getting fast starts this season and Friday was no exception as they jumped out 19-4 on the Mustangs, with Sherman scoring six of those points in the early going. Two threes from Ellie Plantz also provided an immediate sark and gave the Warriors some breathing room.
Plantz and Elisabeth Coffman each finished with eight points, with Coffman adding five assists while Plantz had three assists.
Monticello collected itself and stopped the bleeding in the second quarter, but Western again blitzed the Mustangs in the third, stifling the Mustangs’ offense by holding them to just six points in the third.
“We have flashes of good moments, it’s just getting them to be consistent,” said Monticello coach Juhwun Smith. “We have a lot of younger girls and a lot of inexperience — we pulled up almost half the team from JV so it’s just getting them to be confident in themselves.”
Abby Shell led the Mustangs with eight points.
Western will travel to take on Covington Saturday while the Mustangs host Culpeper Tuesday.
