West Greene falls short against Winchester Thurston
West Greene head coach Jordan Watson consoles Madison Lampe Tuesday late in the Pioneers’ loss to Winchester Thurston in the WPIAL Class A basketball semifinals at West Allegheny High School. Lampe scored 19 points.
West Greene’s Kaitlyn Rizor takes the ball down court past Winchester Thurston’s Gia Thorpe Tuesday during a WPIAL Class A basketball playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe takes the ball down court pasted Winchester Thurston’s Gia Thorpe during Tuesday’s WPIAL playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe tries to break through Winchester Thurston’s defenders Tuesday during a WPIAL Class A basketball playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
IMPERIAL – After his squad played 64 minutes of hard-nosed basketball this season against WPIAL girls powerhouse Winchester Thurston, energetic West Greene coach Jordan Watson could draw only one conclusion.
“If Winchester Thurston is the second-best team in the state, and I think they’re ranked No. 2,” Watson said, “then we’re definitely in the top five.”
West Greene convinced many in attendance Tuesday night at West Allegheny High School that Watson’s statement might be more fact than bragging or coachspeak.
West Greene erased an early 13-point deficit before running out of steam in the final three minutes and falling to Winchester Thurston for the second time in six weeks, 55-50, in the WPIAL Class A semifinals.
Winchester Thurston (20-1), which has lost only to Class 5-A Oakland Catholic in the regular-season finale, advances to the championship game for the first time in school history. West Greene (19-5) will not play again until it makes its initial appearance in the PIAA tournament March 11. The Pioneers are hoping for a third meeting with Winchester Thurston, one that would include a better start for the Pioneers.
Behind the dynamic duo of junior point guard Gia Thorpe and forward Ayanna Townsend, Winchester Thurston raced to leads of 16-4 in the first quarter and 20-7 early in the second quarter. Thorpe scored 21 of her game-high 29 points in the first half and Townsend had 23 points, including the 1,000th of her career, and grabbed 21 rebounds. Thorpe and Townsend scored all but three of the Bears’ points.
“Thorpe is the best player we’ve ever played against,” Watson said without hesitation.
The Bears appeared to be on the road to a more convincing win than their 16-point victory in Rogersville. The Pioneers had all kinds of trouble with Winchester Thurston’s full-court press and committed nine turnovers in the first quarter, many that led to easy baskets for the Bears.
“When it was 16-4 and I called my second timeout, I said that I didn’t want to use all my timeouts in the first quarter,” Watson recalled. “At that point, a lot of teams would put their heads down and pout and lose by 50. The way we played after that, we proved that the heart and the effort was there.”
West Greene quickly snatched the momentum and climbed back into the game by pushing the pace with its fast-break and full-court press. Winchester Thurston, which did not make a substitution until late in the third quarter and had not been seriously tested in section play, began to look tired and rattled.
West Greene used an 8-0 run to close to within 20-15 and a Madison Lampe free throw capped a 9-0 run late in the first half that gave the Pioneers a 26-25 lead and energized the Pioneers’ large contingent of fans.
“Their quickness gave us problems,” Winchester Thurston coach Monica Williams said. “Their guards are feisty. They’re young and they never stop. Their weakness is they don’t have a big man, but that works to their advantage because they’re all quick. Their quickness is hard to match up with.”
West Greene had its own dynamic duo of the Lampe sisters. McKenna Lampe had team highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Madison Lampe followed with 19 points before fouling out late in the game. The sisters combined to score 13 consecutive West Greene points in the second half.
Kaitlyn Rizor had 10 rebounds for West Greene and the Pioneers got quality minutes off the bench from Brianna Goodwin, who had five points and nine rebounds.
Winchester Thurston led 31-27 at halftime and pushed its advantage to seven points in the third quarter before West Greene again picked up the pace. McKenna Lampe had five points in a 10-0 run that gave the Pioneers a 39-36 lead.
“We panicked,” Williams said. “Our girls hadn’t had that kind of game all year. I had to tell them to keep their composure.”
Winchester Thurston, on a basket by Emma Small – the only field goal by the Bears that wasn’t scored by Thorpe or Townsend – took a 40-39 lead after three quarters. West Greene’s Marissa Rode, who scored three key fourth-quarter baskets in a win over Rochester in the first round, gave the Pioneers their final lead at 45-44 with 5:30 remaining. A hard drive to the hoop for a basket by Madison Lampe tied the score at 47-47 with three minutes to play but West Greene would muster only three points the rest of the way.
A Madison Lampe free throw with 27 seconds left cut Winchester Thurston’s lead to 52-50 but Thorpe made it a two-possession game by making two foul shots with 18 seconds left.
“They have two girls who have Division I offers and another committed to a Division III school this week,” Watson said of Winchester Thurston. “We have nobody in the history of our school who has played Division I but I’m proud of our effort. We have to take advantage of the moment. We’re (almost) all sophomores, so we hope to be here again.”