Jaguars grow, still fall to Hillers

By DEAN DELLAMALVA JR.

MVI Sports

The Thomas Jefferson girls basketball team nearly played even with first-place Trinity for the final three quarters Monday, but gave the game away early.

The Hillers jumped on the Jaguars early and withstood a feisty effort by TJ before coming away with a 56-41 win in Section 3-5A.

Trinity led 20-6 after the first eight minutes and went on a 12-2 run to end the second. 

Thomas Jefferson won the second half and despite never getting the deficit to single digits, never gave up until the bitter end.

“We worked really, really hard to prepare for this (game) and I know that on paper, (Trinity) is a very, very good team,” Jaguars coach Lisa Fairman said. “I told my kids that we have to play smart and I saw that a lot tonight. It wasn’t as easy for (Trinity) to score as the first time around. So that’s growth and improvement on our part.”

Thomas Jefferson (10-7, 8-2) appeared caught in a big moment, turning the ball over 12 times in the first half as it tried to force the ball up the floor.

“Unfortunately, the nerves got the best of us in the beginning and we just kept telling the girls to remain calm, confident and keep believing,” Fairman said. “We shot ourselves in the foot in the first quarter, half of their points were off of turnovers that were unforced.”

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