Thomas has the range as Academy Park beats Interboro
SHARON HILL–There is nothing flashy about Sierra Thomas’ game.
The Academy Park junior doesn’t mess around when she gets the ball. She is normally standing in the corner, often left wide open and ready to fire.
And nine times out of 10, when she gets the ball, she will shoot.
“Coach (Ron Bright) just tells me to keep shooting,” Thomas said. “Stay in the corner and keep shooting. That’s what I do.”
Thomas knows that her main role on the team is to deliver 3-pointers with high frequency. Among the top 3-point artists in the county, Thomas entered Thursday night’s Del Val League clash against Interboro with more than 30 long balls on the season.
Thursday night, Thomas went off for 23 points on 7 of 19 shooting from 3-point range during the Knights’ 68-48 triumph.
“There are other things I need to work on because I want to be a better player,” Thomas said.
As a team the Knights do not shy away from airing the ball out, as they connected on 10 of 35 field goal attempts from long distance.
“Sierra pretty much helps space the floor for us,” Bright said. “And she does like to shoot a lot from the corner, which opens up the floor for Gabby (Jackson) and Lashay (Jackson), who like to penetrate. They know they can look to her to knock down some shots. You can’t leave her open, so we try to put her in position when they drive and draw defenders that we can kick it to her in the corner. We do have a lot of stuff for her whether the defense is in a zone or man. She’s really having a career year shooting the ball. She had seven 3s tonight and in two different games she had six.
This was a game that could determine which teams advances to the District 1 Class 5A tournament. With the win, Academy Park (11-8) moved up to 12th place while Interboro (6-12) fell to the 16th and final seed.
The Jackson girls, Gabby and Lashay, aided Thomas and the Knights to the victory. Lashay finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Gabby paired 12 points with eight assists and three steals.
Interboro made a run in the third quarter to make things interesting. Trailing by as many as 14 points, the Bucs closed the quarter on an 11-3 run. Madison Diehl was the sparkplug for the Bucs. The senior guard and four-year varsity player was all over the floor, scoring a team-high 21 points to go with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“Madison is the heart and soul of this team,” Interboro coach Ty Taylor said. “Nobody plays harder.”
Thanks in large part to Diehl’s effort, the Bucs were within striking distance, down six points, at the start of the fourth quarter before the wheels fell off. The Knights outscored the Bucs, 20-6, in the final period. Interboro struggled to a 3-for-13 shooting performance in the final eight minutes of play.
“There are some fundamental things that we have in place that are not being executed. It was evident tonight,” Taylor said. “Ron (Bright) had the right game plan for his team, which was we’re going to press them in man at the half court and not give them a 3-point shot. That’s because we (Interboro) hit so many in the second half the last time we played. They were giving us layups but we weren’t making those cuts. If you start cutting and hitting those layups, that forces them to sink back and play a sagging 1-2-2 zone, which allows us to get the 3-point shot, which were able to make the last time.”
Diehl has seen the Bucs make strides in Taylor’s second year at the helm. It’s improved the team from last season’s five wins.
In addition to Diehl, power forward/center Riley Mollica-Szatny amassed 17 points and seven rebounds and versatile junior Aniya Boland contributed eight points and three blocks.
“It’s kind of frustrating, trying to get the whole team on the same page,” Diehl said. “Everyone is playing chaotic and everything falls apart. Everyone has grown and we’re a lot better team than we were before, but it can be frustrating.”
Elsewhere in the Del Val:
Chester 53, Chichester 40 >> Natonya Taylor produced 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds and Iyanna Bennett followed up with 18 points, including four 3-pointers and six helpers for the Clippers (2-12, 2-7), who outscored the Eagles 17-7 in the final quarter.
Ava Franz had 17 points and Ariana Davis scored 10 points for Chichester.
