Thorpe’s triple-double throttles slow-starting West Greene
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Winchester Thurston’s Ayanna Townsend towers over West Greene’s Madison Lampe as she takes a shot during Friday’s WPIAL Class A girls basketball championship game at Pitt.
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe goes up for a layup against Winchester Thurston’s Ayanna Townsend (22) and Nya Nicholson (33)
West Greene’s Madison Lampe looks for room around Winchester Thurston’s Emma Small during Friday's WPIAL Class A Championship game at the Petersen Events Center.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe wipes away tears after she and several other starters were removed from Friday’s WPIAL Class A girls basketball Championship game with seconds remaining in the contest. The Pioneers lost to Winchester Thurston.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Members of the West Greene girls basketball team hold up the runner-up trophy after the Pioneers’ 76-57 loss in the WPIAL Class A title game against Winchester Thurston at Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh Friday.
Holly Tonini/ Observer-Reporter
West Greene’s Elizabeth Brudnock tries to make a pass around Winchester Thurston’s Emma Small during Friday's WPIAL Class A girls basketball championship game at Petersen Events Center.
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe shots against Winchester Thurston’s Nya Nicholson (33) and Gia Thorpe (3) during Friday's title game in Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH — West Greene High School girls basketball head coach Jordan Watson has been quick to credit Winchester Thurston senior point guard Gia Thorpe after each time the two teams have met.
When a comeback fell short for the Pioneers in a semifinal game during last year’s WPIAL playoffs, Watson didn’t think twice when calling Thorpe “the best player we’ve ever played against.”
Scoring game-highs in the first three times she has played against West Greene — Thorpe scored 27, 23 and 16 points in the matchups with the Pioneers over the past two seasons — left Watson looking for answers as to how to successfully defend her.
While looking down at the statistics sheet as he went to the microphone during the postgame interview, Watson looked on the bright side of the Pioneers’ WPIAL Class A championship game against Winchester Thurston Friday afternoon:
“Gia Thorpe is graduating. That helps,” he said.
Thorpe put on a memorable performance with a triple-double of 36 points, 13 rebounds and 10 steals as top-seeded Winchester Thurston defeated West Greene for the fourth time in two years, 76-57, at the Petersen Events Center Friday afternoon. It is the second consecutive WPIAL championship for Winchester Thurston.
“In our first game, (Watson) said good game but we’re used to playing on bigger courts,” Winchester Thurston coach Monica Williams said about her meeting with Watson in the handshake line after the Bears’ 58-38 thumping of the Pioneers in the regular season on Winchester Thurston’s home court.
“I knew he was thinking on a bigger court they were going to be able to do a little more. I knew when you have Gia Thorpe it doesn’t matter. A big court wasn’t going to hurt us. I think the open court actually helped us more.”
More space only created more problems for West Greene.
Winchester Thurston (19-5) forced 13 West Greene turnovers in the first quarter and scored 17 of its first 19 points off of those miscues.
As Watson called a timeout with 5:32 remaining in the first quarter, the Bears already had an 11-0 lead and West Greene had yet to attempt its second field goal.
“The day before the championship game we were flat at practice,” Watson said. “It translated to the first four minutes of the game. There wasn’t any intensity. (Winchester Thurston) got every loose ball. They looked like they were playing a little bit harder. You can’t get those four minutes back.”
The Bears, who worked relentlessly on a 3-2 zone defense to defend the perimeter against West Greene, forced 22 first-half turnovers.
Trailing 23-12 after an all-around miserable opening eight minutes, the Pioneers cut the deficit to six points, 25-20, less than two minutes into the second quarter after two three-pointers from Elizabeth Brudnock.
That was the last threat, and smallest deficit, West Greene (22-3) would have for the remainder of the game.
Thorpe scored 10 points to ignite a 16-3 run for Winchester Thurston, and scored 14 points in the second quarter to give the Bears a 44-26 halftime lead.
“We set a defensive goal every game,” Watson said. “We set a defensive goal to hold them in the 40s. We can’t give up 70-some points and expect to win. We just gave up way too many points.”
A lot of Thorpe’s work came at the foul line, where she was 18 of 21.
“I’m blessed,” Thorpe said. “Words can’t even describe the feeling. (West Greene) is a great team, take nothing away from them. We couldn’t lose. Not this year. Not my senior year.”
The taller Winchester Thurston team was able to use it size to dominate on the glass.
Nya Nicholson, who was the only other Bears player in double figures with 18 points, scored 10 second-chance points, many of those created by her own rebound.
Winchester Thurston often had the four tallest players on the court.
“It’s hard to simulate that size in practice,” Watson said.
“It always comes down to defense and rebounding. It comes down to every girl wanting to get a rebound. Every girl has to assume nobody else is going to get it. Every girl has to box out hard.”
West Greene was kept at a distance throughout the second half, never cutting the deficit to fewer than 14 points. The Bears extended their lead to as many as 22 points on three different occasions despite allowing West Greene to find some offensive rhythm as the game progressed.
Four players scored in double figures for the Pioneers. Madison Lampe had a team-high 15 points while McKenna Lampe finished with 13 points. Elizabeth Brudnock and Jersey Wise, who made a trio of three-pointers, each chipped in with 10.
“We wanted to come back here, win this and go further in states,” Williams said. “I was confident. I don’t show my team how confident I am. I don’t want them to walk and think they are going to beat on or run over anybody. We have to work at everything we do. I always want to push them hard.”