Winchester Thurston eyes a repeat

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Winchester Thurston’s girls basketball team brought home the school’s first WPIAL championship last year.

Through a 16-5 season this year, though, repeating as champion hasn’t been a constant conversation, senior guard and Xavier recruit Ayanna Townsend said.

“We try to think about the now and discuss the now, so we can’t get to the championship unless we keep winning now,” Townsend, who averages 14 points a game, said. “So I guess we’ve just been living in the moment.”

Nevertheless, that’s the No. 1-seeded team’s goal, with that journey continuing Friday against Cornell in the WPIAL Class 1A quarterfinals. It’s a rematch of last year’s title game, which Winchester Thurston won, 52-41, behind Townsend’s 22 points and 17 rebounds, with guard Gia Thorpe adding 16 points and 12 rebounds. Winchester Thurston beat Cornell, 42-31, in its second game of the season.

“They’re really looking forward to repeat from last year,” Winchester Thurston coach Monica Williams said. “Actually, they’re kind of calm and they don’t want to get overly excited. They don’t want their expectations to be overly high and then not do what they’re supposed to do. They’re taking it in stride.”

Townsend combines with Thorpe, also a senior, to lead the team’s offense, which averages 56.4 points per game while limiting opponents to 36.2 points.

Experience from last year’s playoff run will be key this year, Townsend said.

The Bears went 22-2 last year, eventually falling to Juniata Valley, 43-28, in the second round of the PIAA playoffs.

“Experience definitely helps,” Townsend said. “I feel like everyone’s expecting us to go back again and we’re going to try to live up to the expectation. I feel like we won’t be as nervous as we were last year to play when we do go.”

Said Williams: “They’re not as afraid. They’re more in tune with each other. They have more confidence. We’re getting a lot more shots from the younger girls who last year got thrown into the lion’s den.”

The team has struggled with injuries, with forward Emma Smalls breaking her nose and Thorpe twisting her ankle against West Greene, with the team losing to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 50-34, the next game, down two starters.

“We lost some games that we felt like we never should have lost,” Williams said. “All itdid was motivate the girls.”

Both are healthy and playing now, Williams said.

Finally getting healthy has given the Bears a boost right before embarking on playoffs as they try to repeat.

“We’re pretty focused,” Townsend said. “I think it’s time to lock in now. A few of our games in the regular season were kind of iffy and we lost some that we shouldn’t have so we can’t afford to lose any that we shouldn’t... It does give us a confidence boost, I guess, because we know everybody can play and everyone can play harder than they did when they first got off their injuries. We’re feeling pretty good about it.”