Rahmir Todd photo
Harmoni Thomas.
With six minutes and 43 seconds left in the third quarter, freshman forward Harmoni Thomas drove to the basket and made a layup off the backboard to kickstart a big run for her Lady Governors.
That run took place during Tuesday’s varsity girls basketball game as Wilbur Cross faced off against Branford High School. Cross closed the gap from being down 11 points at halftime but ultimately fell short of a win.
The Lady Governors lost the game 50 – 47, making it the team’s 12th loss out of 13 games this season in teeth-clenching fashion.
As the season has gone on the team has improved. The deficit in their losses has shrunk, signifying that they are staying competitive in their matchups.
Thomas, who is number 3 on the court, was one of the driving factors in the team’s near success Tuesday. Her offensive impact helped the team claw back into the game when they needed it most.
Thomas went into Tuesday’s game a little nervous because she had missed the team’s last practice and felt slightly unprepared. But “this deep into the season I feel I have enough team chemistry with my teammates to know how they play,” she said. The chemistry gave her closure and eased her nerves Tuesday.
During the home game the Lady Governors were trailing 28 – 21 following the aforementioned layup by Thomas in the third. But after two more layups by Thomas and some extra help from her teammates the score was 34 – 29 with a minute to go in the quarter.
That was until Thomas stole the ball from her opponents and ran the length of the court with the ball, swerving through defenders to find herself at the rim for another layup.
“Yes Harm!” her teammates yelled the entire time.
This basket made it a one-possession game and seemed to revitalize the team’s energy going into the final quarter.
Her offensive onslaught continued through the fourth quarter. She scored on back-to-back plays early in the quarter and was capped off with a put-back layup off of a rebound with 40 seconds left in the game, to make the score 50 – 44.
Thomas led the team in scoring, finishing with 18 points, most of which came from shots in the paint in the form of her own self-creation (charging to the basket with the ball). Thomas also led the team in rebounds, grabbing seven during an all-around impressive personal performance
Her efforts didn’t lead the team to win. But it didn’t discourage her from feeling positive about it. In a post-game interview she stated that she feels she did a good job sealing out in the post and “getting to the gaps” of the defense to set herself up for easy points, all leading to her feeling that “in an overall sense, I think I played a great game today.”
Thomas added that she plans to improve on her help defense in their defensive sets. She doesn’t want to get caught “ball watching” going forward in order to further help the team.
Being a freshman, Thomas is new to the high school sports setting. It doesn’t seem to faze her much. She describes it as “fun.”
“I feel like it’s a great opportunity to be so young, getting a lot of time in varsity, you know, that doesn’t happen usually,” she said.
She concluded that the experience is a “great opportunity to get her in the right direction.”
When asked if she plans to continue playing for Cross next year, she was confident in her answer: “Yes. Definitely.” Her dream is a college basketball scholarship and eventually the WNBA.
Thomas and her Lady Governor teammates aim to get their second win of the season in an away game Thursday evening against Jonathan Law High School.
Maya McFadden Photo
Thomas on defense (center) at recent Cross v Career game, where Cross took their first win.
