Greyhounds recover
TACOMA – Scoring against Othello’s stingy defense late in the game proved to be easy for Jessica Thomas.
What was difficult for the Pullman senior was simply surviving the bus ride to Tacoma in one piece.
Despite being ill the past five days, Thomas scored her team’s final seven points to help Pullman secure a fourth-place finish at the State 2A girls basketball tournament with a 39-35 victory over Othello Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
With Pullman trailing 34-32 with 2 1/2 minutes to play, Thomas put the struggling offense on her shoulders and delivered, hitting two field goals and 3 of 4 free throws.
Pullman’s defense did the rest, getting two key steals from Danielle Hodge and limiting the Huskies to one free throw the rest of the way en route to picking up their fifth top-four finish over the last nine seasons.
Thomas’s heroics would have been impressive had she felt 100 percent, which was hardly the case.
“I puked so hard I popped a blood vessel in my eye. That’s how I got my red eye,” said Thomas, pointing out her right pupil, which was engulfed in a dark crimson. “It was horrible. We stopped in Ellensburg on Tuesday on the way over and that’s when I started getting sick. I didn’t stop throwing up until Wednesday. I went to the ER and they gave me an IV. I went through three bags of fluid.”
Thomas didn’t play in the Greyhounds’ opening-round win over Anacortes and saw a combined 5 minutes against Prosser and Tumwater, managing just two points.
She missed her only two shots of the first half against Othello (24-5), playing just 3 minutes, but once her team saw its 11-point lead evaporate, Thomas figured being sick could wait.
“I can be sick any time, just not during the final game of my senior year,” Thomas said. “I feel lousy now, but when I was on the court, I felt great. I just knew we had to score.”
That was something Pullman (24-2) had failed to do over the previous 5 minutes as the Huskies used a 7-0 run to grab their first lead of the contest (34-32).
A Thomas field goal reclaimed the lead with 2 1/2 minutes to play. That bucket was followed by two free throws and a layup with 30 seconds left before she closed out her scoring by sinking 1 of 2 free throws with 17 seconds to play.
”(Thomas) has been through so many injuries this year,” Pullman coach Phil Morgan said. “To have her go out like that was great. We were disappointed in the outcome of the Prosser game (in the quarterfinals), but the team was able to put that game behind us. This has just been a great group to coach.”
Anna Albrecht paced the Greyhounds with 12 points. Thomas and Albrecht are two of five seniors on the squad. The list also includes Cory Druffel (five points), Kirsi Voshell (seven) and Taylor Walker (one).
Allison Walker led the Huskies with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
River Ridge 43, Ellensburg 42: Sophie Russell scored with 1:30 left to cap her 15-point night and Courtney Blume’s steal with 5.2 seconds left secured River Ridge’s 43-42 win over Ellensburg, giving the Hawks their second straight 2A state title.
Kayla Standish led Ellensburg with 15 points, which made its first title game appearance. Casey Kelleher added 12 for the Bulldogs.