Wash High girls experience ‘one of those nights’ in loss
By Chris Dugan
Sports editor
dugan@observer-reporter.com
Almost every basketball team experiences a night when the ball seems too big, the rim looks too small and the opponent seemingly has eight players on the court.
In basketball terms, such an experience is chalked up as “one of those nights.”
The Washington girls team experienced “one of those nights” at the worst possible time Friday – in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.
Jasmine Hollins and DaShea Cochran combined for 41 points and 11th-seeded Winchester Thurston defeated the sixth-seeded Little Prexies 51-38 at the Wash High gymnasium.
Winchester Thurston (11-12), advances to the quarterfinals Wednesday night against section rival Serra Catholic, the No. 3 seed.
It turned out that Winchester Thurston was underseeded because of its record and its highly competitive section. The Bears finished fourth in Section 4 that is top-heavy with No. 1 seeded Greensburg Central Catholic, Serra and Clairton, an 18-win team that finished in third place.
“I loved our draw,” said Winchester Thurston coach Nika Williams. “I knew our section was better than what (Washington’s) was. And in our non-section schedule, we play up. We play 4A teams. Those games help us get better for the playoffs. I don’t care what our record is entering the playoffs.”
Washington, which ends the season at 14-9, had its seven-game winning streak snapped. The Little Prexies suffered “one of those nights” when they couldn’t get a shot or a free throw to fall, committed too many turnovers and were hammered on the boards.
“We have been saying all year that we can’t get off to slow starts and give up 13 or 14 offensive rebounds and think the opponent won’t score,” Wash High coach Josh Wise said. “You put those two together and this is what happens.”
What happened in the first half sure didn’t go Wash High’s way. Winchester took control of the game early, using a 13-3 run to forge a 19-6 advantage early in the second quarter. The Bears closed the first half on an 8-0 run and led 27-9 at intermission.
The Little Prexies made only three field goals in the first 16 minutes. Point guard Olivia Woods, the Prexies’ leading scorer on the season, didn’t make a field goal until the fourth quarter and battled foul trouble all night.
“We knew we had to stay on (Woods). She is one of the top scorers in the WPIAL. And (Johnson) is the other scorer they have. We did a good job on those two,” Williams said.
Winchester Thurston led 34-13 midway through the third quarter before Wash High finally started seeing some of their shots go through the basket. That enabled the Prexies to go on a 7-2 run that cut Winchester Thurston’s lead to 36-20 early in the fourth quarter.
“Our intensity in the fourth quarter was what we wanted all year,” Wise said. “We played like it was a dire situation, but we only started playing that way when we were dying. We were able to put pressure on their guards.”
Wash High forced 22 Winchester Thurston turnovers in the game and twice had the Bears scrambling for timeouts in the fourth quarter. The Prexies were able to close to within 12 points at 44-32 with 2:35 remaining but that was as close as they would draw.
Hollins scored a game-high 21 points and Cochran followed with 20, including seven in the fourth quarter to keep the Prexies out of striking distance.
Woods scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the final quarter. Kyndra Wynn had 11 points and nine rebounds.