Zoey Coffer scored 21 points, and fellow sophomore Ayslenn Paulino scored 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter as Woodbridge got a 60-45 road victory at Colgan Monday night. The visitors led the whole game, and the victory kept the Vikings in second place in the Cardinal District behind Potomac.
It was a battle of young and promising teams. Between them the Vikings and Sharks only have one senior, and nine of each team’s players are either freshmen or sophomores.
Considering the youth of the teams it was an open question how well each team would play coming off a week’s layoff due to weather. Woodbridge came out strong, using a Coffer three-pointer plus a steal and bucket to go up 7-2. After sophomore guard Zoey Kellum hit two free throws, Colgan called a time out.
“I was worried because we hadn’t been able to do anything for about a week and a half because of the snow,” said Woodbridge Coach Courtney Coffer, Zoey’s father. “She [Zoey] came out and led her team and did very well, I’m proud of her.”
The Sharks stabilized, thanks mostly to freshman Autumn Andrews. Andrews, who scored 17 first half points, started to get hot, and after Colgan guard Sadie Ha found Jaidyn Tiller for a three-pointer, Colgan closed to within 19-15 midway through the second quarter.
That was the only basket Colgan got outside of Andrews in the first half, though, as Woodbridge stretched its lead to 29-20 by the intermission. Coffer was sensational, handling the ball a lot, and scoring 13 of her points in the first half.
After halftime, Colgan made a charge. Andrews remained hot, but she started to get offensive support from her teammates as well as the Sharks scored 19 points in the third quarter. After Colgan scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, the home team had whittled the Woodbridge lead down to 43-41.
Then Coach Coffer made a concerted effort to get the ball to Paulino, his young post player.
“We realized they made some substitutions where they went a little bit small,” Coach Coffer said. “So we just decided we wanted to isolate Paulino and just go to her and go to her. And the good part is you could see her confidence rising as she continued to help us down the stretch.”
Paulino scored six points inside as Woodbridge went on a 9-0 run. Her presence inside helped open things up from outside as well, as senior Bobbi Tate found sophomore Eleona Wilkins open for a three-pointer.
Paulino added four more points after the run, but by that time Woodbridge (7-2, 9-9) had essentially clinched the victory.
Andrews finished with a staggering 34 points despite the loss for the Sharks (5-5, 9-9). She hit two three-pointers, but Colgan as a team struggled to shoot from outside. The Sharks shot 4-27 from beyond the arc on the evening.
Kellum added nine points before fouling out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. Wilkins added seven points for the Vikings, who swept the season series from Colgan.
“We’re young, so one game we’ll look incredible and then the next game…we’re on that roller coaster ride,” said Coach Coffer. “It’s going to just keep getting better for us though as we keep learning and going through the process.”
–Chris Jollay