By Robert Stocks
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Jefferson (W.Va.) High School sophomore McKinley Thomas sank a 12-foot buzzer-beater before the half, and that gave the Cougars all the momentum they needed in Tuesday night’s non-district girls’ basketball game at James Wood.

The Cougars trailed by as many as eight in the first half, but Thomas’ shot capped a 6-0 spurt to cut Wood’s lead down to two at the break.

From there, Thomas scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter as Jefferson prevailed 84-67.

Thomas said Jefferson wanted to focus more on making the extra pass on offense, and that helped lead to some easy baskets in transition during the Cougars’ 31-point third quarter.

“We were trying to take it to the basket but also run our plays instead of just free-balling,” Thomas said. “Our coach talked to us and got us ready, and we actually worked as a team and ran our plays.”

The Colonels (5-11) appeared gassed after an up-tempo first half that saw the two teams combine for 62 points and 26 turnovers. James Wood took an eight-point lead when Whitney Dennis’ layup made the score 32-24 with 1:50 left in the second quarter.
But James Wood’s team fouls proved costly, putting Jefferson in the double bonus from the 3:51 mark on, and the Cougars (7-5) chipped away.

Jefferson’s Melissa Taylor (22 points and nine rebounds) and Tanisha Murray (10 points) each hit a pair of free throws, and Thomas’ buzzer beater cut the Colonels lead to 32-30.

James Wood coach Rhonda Slider said the up-tempo play in the first half could have been a factor, because her team did not respond well defensively early in the second half.

“We came out in the third quarter and we were just a little flat,” Slider said. “We weren’t getting back on defense. We weren’t having many good shots, and they were, so that was the difference in the game.”

Jefferson picked up where it left off at the end of the first half, putting together a 14-0 run that bridged the second and third quarters.

A Taylor steal and layup capped eight unanswered points, giving the Cougars a 38-32 lead with 6:46 remaining in the third and forcing Slider to call timeout.

James Wood senior Shannan Thorne’s layup cut it to four after the timeout, but Jefferson’s Kathryn Mangold connected on her second 3-pointer to put the Cougars ahead by seven.

After Dennis converted two free throws, Taylor’s three-point play pushed the Cougars’ lead to 47-36 with 5:06 left in the third.

Thomas and Taylor combined for 19 of Jefferson’s 31 third-quarter points, and the Cougars carried a 61-49 lead into the fourth.

“We wanted to just play as a team and move the ball against that [2-3] zone,” Jefferson coach Peachy Diehl said. “We wanted to quit going to our first option and run the offense through, and they started playing together a little better. They started making good decisions as a team, and that’s what we’ve been working on all year.”

The Cougars’ 31 points in that third was one more than their total in the first half.

“We tried to switch up our defense, and I think we got tired in the press, so we pulled back a little bit,” Slider said. “We tried to just go back into a 2-3 [zone], and we still weren’t getting back in time. Our defense [struggled] tonight in the third quarter. It’s hard to catch up when you’re down.”

The Colonels never did catch up, and Jefferson capitalized on James Wood’s foul trouble.

The Cougars shot 63 percent (22 of 35) from the free-throw line overall and went 11 of 18 in the fourth quarter to maintain their double-digit lead.

James Wood’s Heather Armel (13 points) and Tori Eaton (12 points) both fouled out. Armel, who shot 4 of 14 (29 percent) from the field, only scored four in the second half before fouling out with 6:19 remaining.

Thorne led the way for the Colonels, scoring 12 of her team-high 19 points in the opening half. She finished with 14 rebounds and also had seven steals. Dennis added 13 points for James Wood.

Alyssa Plourde scored 10 points and added nine rebounds for Jefferson.