By Hunter Moore ’15

On Saturday, March 7 the game clock expired, and so did the season of the girls’ basketball team in a 67-40 loss to state finalist Paint Branch (23-1). However, this loss is not a bad one for the Warriors, who surprised the county by making it to the 4A West Regional semi-final game under its third coach in as many years and boasted a record of 16-8.

The Warriors clinched the No. 3 seed and a bye as they traveled to Howard (22-5) and defeated the Lions in the second round by a score of 66-59. This year’s team was led by senior captain Nicole Stockinger (11 points per game), sophomore Good Counsel transfer Amanda Allen (8.7 points per game) and junior Delaney McMenamin (8.4 points per game).

“This year we definitely surprised a lot of people, because many expected nothing from us. Last year is when the team came together and started playing well with one another,” said Stockinger. “Going from what Coach Campbell left definitely helped lead us toward success this year.”

Coach Tim Hobbs took control of this team one year after being the assistant coach at Whitman and has held positions at Magruder, Seneca Valley, Einstein and Clarksburg. Hobbs led the Warriors to a playoff win and a winning record, unlike the 2013 season when the Warriors went 4-17 and the 2014 season where they went 10-13.

“I don’t believe the girls believed they were as good as I did at the start of this year, but in the middle of the season, we got things rolling and rattled off a seven- or eight-game win streak,” said Hobbs. “A lot of the girls said it would be a success if we won one playoff game and we did just that, so this season did exceed my expectations.”

This seven-game win streak began on January 30 against Blake (13-7), when Sherwood won by a score of 46-32 to complete a season sweep of the Bengals. This streak included another division win over Springbrook (6-17), avenging the loss that occurred earlier in the season. The Warriors capped off the run with a win over rival Magruder (14-10), by a score of 63-61, completing the season sweep which has not happened recently in Sherwood-Magruder play.

This year’s team is also young, and the future holds a lot of potential for the Warriors. The team, consisting of four seniors, have several playmakers returning for the 2015-2016 season.

“The future is very bright with the number of girls coming back from Taylor Andrews, Bryse Thornwell, Delaney McMenamin, Amanda Allen, Sammy Sundell to the very talented JV team that went 13-4,” added Hobbs.

Senior Stacey O’Neale (5.8 points per game), a Wesley College basketball commit and Stockinger, a Towson University softball commit, are going to be hard to replace, but of the top nine scorers for this years team, seven were underclassmen.