Thorpe’s 36 points guide Winchester Thurston girls to 2nd straight WPIAL Class A title

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 2, 2018 | 4:42 PM

Previous Next

Previous Next

It was hard to tell if it was nerves or the 60-mile bus ride.

But West Greene started Friday's WPIAL Class A girls title game by falling behind by double-digits. Winchester Thurston scored 17 of its first 19 points off turnovers as the Bears won their second consecutive WPIAL championship 76-57 at Petersen Events Center.

It was a title game to remember for Winchester Thurston's Gia Thorpe. The senior had 36 points, made 18 of 21 foul shots, and collected 13 rebounds and 10 steals.

“For whatever reason, we came out flat,” said Pioneers coach Jordan Watson, who had to use two time outs in the first 2½ minutes. “That's on me. We were flat at practice last night; I don't know why, but it translated to the first four minutes of the game.“

“I was kind of shocked that he didn't take his girls off the press; you usually put on a press to slow people down,” said Bears coach Monica Williams said of Watson. “It did nothing but help us, so we kept pushing. We tried not to get too excited; you never know what would happen during a game.”

Winchester Thurston (19-5) will open PIAA tournament play March 10 against the loser of Friday's District 9 consolation game between Otto-Eldred and Elk County Catholic.

West Greene (22-3), the first girls basketball team from Greene County to ever make the WPIAL championship game, will open the state playoffs against the loser of Saturday's District 10 final between Kennedy Catholic and Farrell.

The Pioneers, however, did rally in the second quarter, cutting the score to 25-20 on a 3-pointer by Elizabeth Brudnock with 5 minutes, 59 seconds to go in the half.

But Thorpe took over after that, scoring the next nine Bears points. She finished the half with 24 points, including 14 free throws as Winchester Thurston had a 44-26 advantage at the intermission.

“I'm blessed,” Thorpe said of her performance. “I'm very thankful of my team. We made shots. We just couldn't lose, not this year, not my senior year.”

Winchester Thurston outrebounded West Greene, 47-23.

“We knew we were bigger than they were,” Williams said. “So we worked on our 3-2 (zone) for hours and hours. We made sure we knew where each other was. We actually broke it down pretty in-depth.”

The Pioneers started to find the range a bit in the third quarter, but by then it was too late.

“I guess there were nerves; this is a different environment,” West Greene junior Kaitlyn Rizzo said.

“After that first four minutes, we settled down after the time outs and played with them a lot the rest of the way,” Watson said. “But you can't get those first four minutes back.”

Freshman Nya Nicholson had 18 points and six steals for the Bears. Xavier-bound Ayanna Townsend had nine points and eight rebounds to contribute to a short, but celebratory 1.2-mile bus ride for Winchester Thurston, located in Pittsburgh's Shadyside section.

West Greene's Lampe twins combined for 28 points — Madison had 15 and McKenna 13. Brudnock and Jersey Wise had 10 points each, with Wise grabbing five rebounds.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Winchester Thurston