Northwest Girls Advance With Playoff Win Over Sherwood

The Jaguars cruised to a 55-39 win over the Sherwood Warriors Tuesday night to advance to the regional semi-finals of the Maryland 4A playoffs.

Backed by strong performances from Carla Batchelor and Katelyn Porter, who each scored 15 points, the Jaguars extended their win streak to 18 games dating back to Dec. 20.  

The streak started after Northwest opened the year 1-4, but an overtime victory over Churchill on Dec. 20 jumpstarted the Jaguars' season. Thanks to the 16-point win over Sherwood Tuesday night, Northwest gets the opportunity to take on Churchill again on Thursday night as the state playoffs continue. 

As winners of 18 straight, Northwest has clearly positioned itself as one of the hottest teams in the state. Only perhaps Gaithersburg, which hasn't lost yet this season, has a bigger target on its back at this point. But Batchelor says the team is enjoying the spotlight.

"It feels good knowing that we're the team out there to beat," she said. "It feels good having the spotlight on us."

Heading into Tuesday's game against Sherwood, Northwest had a 12-day layoff, thanks to a first-round bye that the Jaguars were awarded by earning the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Sherwood, meanwhile, was coming off a big win over Blair last Saturday. 

The near two-week layoff was evident, but not for long. Sherwood opened up the game strong and gained a quick lead early, but it didn't last. Northwest settled down and took over mid-way through the opening half and took a 31-21 lead into the break and never looked back en route to the win.

"I thought we played pretty well," Northwest coach Rob Smith said. "We knew Sherwood was going to come out with a lot of energy after their win Saturday. But once we calmed down and ran our [game plan], we got the lead and never lost it."

In addition to Batchelor and Porter, Northwest was led by Danielle Garroutte, who scored 13 points, and Camry Torian, who added eight. Sherwood was led by Kendall Thomas and her 12 points.

Despite beating Churchill twice in the regular season, Smith isn't overlooking the Bulldogs by any means and is approaching the rest of the postseason game-by-game. 

"It's just one game at a time at this point. Everybody's on an even playing field," Smith said after the game. "It's going to be a tough game."