HAMILTON — Over a six-day period, the change in the Thrive Charter varsity girls’ basketball team was so drastic, it was almost hard to fathom.
After losing to Gill St. Bernard’s by 31 points and enduring a nearly 45-minute postgame with head coach Darnell Alford last Saturday, the Titans responded with an about-face this week.
Good practices led to better games, which led to a stifling defensive effort Friday when Burlington County Scholastic League Liberty Division foe Westampton Tech visited the Vincent R. Cuiule Court at the Dorothy L. Payne Iron Palace.
In the first half alone, Thrive had 16 steals to three by the Panthers, while also having two times as many rebounds. That defense became equally impressive offense as the 6-7 Titans scored as many points in the first quarter as 7-4 Westampton did all game.
The end result was an 83-31 win for Thrive Charter, which took sole possession of second place behind Cinnaminson in the Liberty.
“After Saturday, we did more team bonding,” 6-foot-2 junior forward/center Adris Oppong said. “That was important because I feel like the team was separated. We weren’t as close as we should have been.
“This week, we came out and practiced hard. We weren’t sloppy. We had energy. Even our warm-ups looked better.”
Then Friday’s game began. Two minutes in, the Titans had a 10-2 advantage. Just over three minutes after that, the lead had grown to 24-4. When the first quarter ended, the home team was up, 31-10.
Oppong had 10 of her 13 points during that surge, while her 5-8 classmate Heziah Kinston had nine of what would become a game-high 25 points.
But the most impressive thing was Thrive’s smothering defense. By halftime, it had the lead up to 54-22, then it came out of the locker room with a 19-3, third-quarter run that pushed the margin to 73-25.
“Today we took pride in our defense and hustled,” said Oppong, who was disappointed that she narrowly missed out on a triple-double with 11 rebounds and eight steals added to her outing.
It was that kind of day for the Titans, who also got 16 points and 10 rebounds from 5-9 senior guard SondJane Daudin, plus 11 points and 10 assists from 5-5 senior guard Olivia Moore. Add in 10 more points from 5-4 junior transfer Clover Spaulding (to give the home side five in double digits) and eight from 5-9 junior guard Takiya Farrior, and Thrive Charter was back to playing the way it is capable.
Meanwhile, Bree Sunkett’s nine points and Lyric Steward’s eight points were the best head coach Darrell White’s Panthers could manage against the Titans’ defense.
“Yes, we have big plans and big goals this season,” Oppong said.
As hard as it may be to fathom after the early season struggles, Thrive will have a good chance at attaining those if it keeps up this week’s intensity.
WESTAMPTON TECH (31)
Cummings 1-3-5, Sunkett 3-0-9, Nnebe 1-0-2, Sidney 2-1-5, Steward 4-0-8, JWilliams 0-0-0, Quaye 1-0-2, Haskins 0-0-0, Spady 0-0-0, Seidt 0-0-0, Parchment 0-0-0.
Totals — 12-4-31.
THRIVE CHARTER (83)
OMoore 3-4-11, Daudin 7-2-16, Powell 0-0-0, Oppong 6-1-13, Farrior 4-0-8, Kinston 11-0-25, Spaulding 5-0-10, Wilson 0-0-0, Pittman 0-0-0.
Totals — 36-7-83.
WestamptonTech(7-4) 10 12 3 6 — 31
Thrive Charter (6-7) 31 23 19 10 — 83
3-point goals — Sunkett 3 (WT), OMoore, Kinston 3 (TC).