Jaguars blow out Laurel Highlands

By Jose Negron

jnegron@yourmvi.com

Thomas Jefferson opened up Section 3-5A play by cruising past Laurel Highlands, 59-15, on its home court Monday. 

The Jaguars (2-1, 1-0), who picked up a nonsection win over Peters Township Friday before falling to Baldwin Saturday, outscored the Mustangs, 24-1, in the first quarter before taking a commanding 41-4 lead into halftime.

TJ went on to outscore LH, 18-11, in the final 16 minutes. 

“You come out and you start every game the same. You have to have energy, be upbeat and bring intensity,” TJ head coach Lisa Fairman said. “Then, you just make adjustments in a game like this. We were focusing on different concepts like boxing out, running different plays and running people in different positions, just things we may need to do later in the season.”

Given the lopsided score, Fairman was able to see her starters get a fair amount of playing time, while also utilizing a plethora of young talent coming off the bench.  

Starters Graci Fairman, Maddy Trainer, Lydia Zoglmann, Gabby Breisinger and Laekyn Flinn played for just over four minutes in the opening quarter, leading TJ on an 18-1 run to start the game. Graci Fairman and Zoglmann each had eight points during the spurt before TJ began subbing players in. 

TJ did the same thing throughout the remainder of the game, allowing each player on the roster to gain valuable minutes. 

“Our starting group worked really well with our press and finished well in transition,” said Fairman, whose team forced 24 turnovers in the first half. “When our group came in off the bench, we just wanted to work on our man concepts. I think each one of these kids bring something different to the table and we wanted to plug them in here and there to get what we wanted.” 

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