Devils not so blue after Springbrook girls end three-game slide

Evidently, Springbrook chose to change. The Blue Devils overwhelmed the host Colonels, 55-31, leading by as many as 16 points in the first half. Springbrook (9-8 overall, 6-4 in the Montgomery 4A East Division) got balanced scoring, led by seniors Alyssa Montgomery (16 points) and Melisa Corado-Williams (10). Seven other players got on the scoresheet, as well.

Springbrook had started the season slowly under interim coach Kearney Francis, but seemed to find its stride by the time the division schedule rolled around. When Riggs completed his recovery from double-bypass heart surgery, the Blue Devils were humming, winning their first two games after Riggs’ return.

But a surprising, 58-41 loss to Sherwood Jan. 29 signalled the start of a brief tailspin.

‘‘It wasn’t the coach; it was us,” Montgomery said. ‘‘We had a bad habit that we’re just now getting out of, of panicking when we got down. We had to learn to stop panicking and start executing our plays.”

Riggs and his players cited turnovers (an average of over 20 per game), poor defensive rebounding and a lack of team defense as the main culprits in the losing streak. Riggs cracked down in practices, and the team’s most recent loss, 49-45 to Richard Montgomery last Monday, served as the final wake-up call.

‘‘We were on a losing streak, and we were tired of it,” senior Ferin Richardson (nine points) said. ‘‘We came out here with a purpose. We executed our plays to a ‘T’. ... The difference between tonight and the last couple of games is that we did what we needed to do, and we did it as a team.”

On the other hand, Magruder (4-14, 3-7 division) seemed to make the same mistakes Friday that had hindered Springbrook recently. The Colonels, battling a team outbreak of the flu, hit just 11 of 61 shots from the field, including one bizarre fourth-quarter sequence that saw them miss seven shots in a single possession. Senior Jesse Owens was the only Magruder player to reach double-digit points, with 12.

But the Colonels’ own interim coach, Pam Dean, thought the lack of team defense was just as damaging.

‘‘Offensively, there’s not much you can do if the ball’s not going in the basket,” Dean said. ‘‘But I’m not happy with our effort level, and I’m not happy how we’re playing as a team. Defensively, we were kind of individuals tonight. And when the ball’s not going in the basket, you can’t afford to do that.”