Woodland Hills rallies past Thomas Jefferson, 48-44
By Jeremy Tepper
MVI Sports
Fourth-seeded Thomas Jefferson knew it would be in for a battle against fifth-seeded Woodland Hills Monday night.
Last season, the Jaguars eked by the Wolverines, 39-34, in the PIAA Class 5A playoffs, hitting some crucial free throws down the stretch.
TJ expected a similar game, and that’s exactly what it got. This time around, though, the Wolverines were the victors as they defeated the Jaguars, 48-44, in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals.
Woodland Hills (13-6) will now advance to play top-seeded Trinity in the semifinals on Thursday.
“I knew it was gonna be a tight game. And I thought both teams played really well,” said Thomas Jefferson coach Lisa Fairman. “It could’ve been anybody’s game there near the end. It’s painful. It’s gonna hurt for a while. These kids care so much.”
Hope Hawkins hit the crucial shot for Woodland Hills, grabbing an offensive rebound and going right back up for the layup to put the Wolverines up 46-44 with 7.6 seconds left.
Thomas Jefferson had a chance to tie it, as Raygen Hintemyer went to the foul line with 2.5 seconds left. Hintemyer, though, missed both free throws and Peyton Pinkney sealed the game afterwards by nailing two free throws. Pinkney led Woodland Hills with 17 points.
Thomas Jefferson (12-10) went 4 for 10 from the free throw line in the loss. Graci Fairman missed the first free throw of a one-and-one with 16.6 seconds left when the game was tied at 44-44.
“I told them in the locker room that one day things will be different. You’ll be the heroes making those foul shots. But there’s gotta be a winner and there’s got to be a loser, and my kids battled really hard,” Fairman said. “We definitely missed a couple of opportunities in the last minute and a half between foul shots and layups. But sometimes that’s gonna happen.”
To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.
