Day: January 16, 2021

Thomas Jefferson went into halftime with Sheldon tied at 20-20 before senior Sydney Stamps put the Cavaliers on her back in the third quarter to help lead her team to its first win of the season, 52-27, on Friday.

“It’s just good for the kids, and for the parents to see it,” Thomas Jefferson coach Dan Rogers said. “It’s just a tough environment we are living in right now. The kids haven’t had a whole lot to hang their hats on. They’ve played hard every game. To be on Homecoming in front of parents, alumni and teachers, it is special for the kids.”

Stamps scored 13 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter to pace Thomas Jefferson out to a 36-22 advantage to start the fourth, more than enough cushion for the Cavaliers to clinch the victory. 

“She is a leader,” Rogers said. “That was the plan—get her the basketball. You can tell she wanted the ball. She wanted the basketball in the bog moment, and that’s leadership.”

Thomas Jefferson (1-8) opened the game with all of the momentum thanks to the play of junior Alivia Beard, who scored nine of Thomas Jefferson’s first 13 points en route to a 13-3 advantage through the first four minutes of action. 

“She is the heart and soul of our team,” Rogers said of Beard. “She sets the energy — breakaway layups, runouts — getting the team excited because of her energy and enthusiasm. She is a leader in that way.”

Beard then picked up two quick fouls and was forced to the bench, which allowed Sheldon to creep back into the game in the second quarter. 

Destiny Brokob knocked down a 3-pointer at the 4:35 mark to tie the game at 15-15 before the Panthers took an 18-17 lead moments later on a 3-ball from Madison Garren. Both teams battled to a 20-20 score by the intermission.

“You could tell the whole game changed when (Alivia) got her second foul,” Rogers said. “Things changed a little bit and then it was 20-20 at halftime. She sets our defense up a little bit, too. When she is out there defensively with all of that energy, everyone gets into place.”

It was clear what the halftime adjustment was for the Cavaliers out of the locker room—get the ball to Stamps. 

Thomas Jefferson scored the first three baskets out of the break to build a 26-20 advantage. Stamps started the run after grabbing her own miss for a putback bucket before Nico Carlson knocked down a mid-range basket. Stamps added another basket in the paint before Sheldon got on the board with a basket from Green to make the score 26-22. That would be the last score in the third quarter for Sheldon. 

Stamps earned a steal in the backcourt and finished with a runout before converting on an old-fashioned three-point play at the 5:26 mark to put Thomas Jefferson on top 31-22 with 3:26 on the clock. Playing with a high amount of confidence, you could hear Stamps calling for the ball in the paint before scoring another basket inside with less than two minutes on the clock.

“It’s January, and you’re a senior with maybe another month and a half of basketball,” Rogers said of Stamps’ play in the third quarter. “It gets to you like you have to get it all out there. With her playing with all of that energy, she said give me the basketball. I’m going to put you on my back and go score it.”

Beard added a free throw to close the Cavaliers’ 10-0 run to end the period with a 36-22 advantage.

Thomas Jefferson pushed the lead to 20 early in the fourth quarter, essentially sealing the win. Carlson opened the final eight minutes with a basket before Alexis Stamps and Sydney Stamps followed suit to make the score 42-22 with five minutes to play.

“It was very important,” Rogers said of his Cavaliers’ start to the fourth period. “It’s just that visual (of being down). If you’re the other team, and we’ve been there more than enough, you look at it like now we’re down 42-22. … When you push it to 20, it gets to them mentally. That was important to finally push it up there we needed to.”

SCORING LEADERS

Aside from Stamps’ 24, Beard finished with 11 points for Thomas Jefferson. Gabbie Hiebert added six, while Alexis Stamps and Carlson added four each. 

Garren led Sheldon with 12 points, while Deborah Lamb finished with seven, and Brokob with six.

UP NEXT

Thomas Jefferson takes part in the Tony Dubray Classic with a matchup against St. Mary’s Colgan on Tuesday. 

Chris Myers was not happy with the way his Cavaliers were playing through the first three minutes of action against Sheldon on Friday.

Thomas Jefferson jumped out to an early 8-3 lead thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Dhruv Gheewala in transition before Gheelwala earned a steal for a fast-break layup. Sheldon answered back with a 3-pointer from Isaac Hall and an inside score from William Chapman to tie the game at 8-8 near the five-minute mark, prompting Myers to call a timeout.

“I didn’t like our defensive intensity right there,” Myers said. “We were kind of being way too passive on defense. We preach all the time that our best offense is our defense.”

Thomas Jefferson (10-1) responded in a big way by closing out the first quarter on a 10-point run before blowing the game open in the second period on the way to a 68-25 win over the Panthers.

“It was a short and sweet speech after the game,” Myers said. “We talked about a game plan going in, with certain things we had to do. As a coach, I was just very pleased with the way they executed what we had talked about. … It’s a district opponent, it has some seeding implications and you-can’t-take-anybody-for-granted type of stuff. I really thought our boys came out and did what they had to do.”

Following Coach Myers’ timeout, Thomas Jefferson outscored Sheldon 12-2 to close the opening quarter with a 22-10 lead. Drew Goodhope and Noah Hamlett added 3-pointers, while Gheewala contributed six more points to finish with 14 in the period.

“I thought we came out and upped that defensive intensity,” Myers said when asked how he felt his team responded from the early timeout. 

The Cavaliers didn’t let up in the second quarter, particularly on the defensive end. Thomas Jefferson held Sheldon off the scoreboard for the first seven and half minutes of game action.

“When our defense is good, we are pretty good,” Myers said. “When we get a little lazy on defense, we struggle a little bit. I was happy with that part of it for sure.”

During that time, the Cavaliers scored 14 unanswered points to balloon the lead to 36-10. Elias Rincker scored the first two baskets of the quarter, and Goodhope added a 3-pointer to fuel the run. 

“We have kids that can score,” Myers said of his offensive production. “We are very blessed with that. Typically, scoring is not one of our issues. It’s a matter of whether we are getting stops on (the defensive end) to lead to the scoring. We know if we play good defense, we’ve got the kids who have the confidence on (the offensive end).”

Hall knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner with 30 seconds left to get the Panthers on the scoreboard in the second.

Thomas Jefferson continued to dominate in the second half, scoring the final 14 points of the third quarter to push the lead to 36 points to start a running clock to open the fourth quarter. Caden Myers led the third-quarter surge with seven points, including a 3-pointer.

“Honestly, we haven’t been playing very well in the third quarter,” Coach Myers said. “We’ve had some pretty good leads at halftime early in the year and have struggled in the third. That’s something we’ve been preaching. I was very pleased to see them come out and respond to things we’ve been talking about. It makes me hope they are listening and starting to apply it to the court.” 

SCORING LEADERS

Gheewala scored a game-high 20 points to lead Thomas Jefferson. Caden Myers put up 17 points, while Goodhope added 11. Hamlett and Rincker each finished with six.

Hall led Sheldon with 14 points.

UP NEXT

Thomas Jefferson takes part in the Tony Dubray Classic with a matchup against Northeast Vernon County at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday as the No. 1 seed.