Washington evens girls season series with Jefferson

With a 60-41 win over Jefferson on its home court last Thursday, Washington evened the season series with the Lady Cougars and achieved the school’s first-ever victory in girl’s basketball over the intra-county rival.

McKinley Thomas (32) tries to block the shot of Rebecca Walls (25) as Jefferson’s Hope Gayle looks on.

Jefferson had defeated Washington in an earlier game in Shenandoah Junction, but the Lady Cougars could not keep last week’s game close.

With its second straight win, Washington went to 4-12 overall while Jefferson dipped to 3-14 and hasn’t won since beating Washington on Jan. 3.

It was a blowout second quarter where Washington outgunned the Lady Cougars, 23-3, that proved to be the game-deciding factor.

Washington had a slender two-point lead following a slow-scoring first quarter. But then the Patriots used a fast tempo and relied on their transition game to quickly dismantle Jefferson.

The Patriot lead had jumped all the way to 34-12 by the close of the first half.

Jefferson turnovers and Washington’s ability to hurriedly move down court after securing defensive rebounds fueled its deciding quarter of play.

Even though the second half was mostly even, Washington’s first-half work had been enough for it to coast home with a number of reserves receiving playing time in the last quarter.

Kenya Dozier had 17 points and Alycia Lambert totaled 13 points as Washington’s double-figure scorers. Amber Curry added her eight points and Kylie Nelson posted six points.

Christina Collins and Morgan Adams each notched four points for the Patriots.

Jefferson’s McKinley Thomas went 12-for-18 from the foul line and scored 26 of Jefferson’s 41 points. Even though it outscored Washington by 12 points from the foul line (16-for-30 for the Lady Cougars), Jefferson still was beaten by 19 points.

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