Centralia junior Jordan Thomas, a starter on the Tigers’ boys basketball team, and Adna senior Kenya Lorton, a guard on the Pirates’ girls basketball squad, have been selected as the Community First Auto Group Athletes of the Month for February 2017.
Jordan Thomas, Centralia basketball
It may have been senior night, but it was junior Jordan Thomas who brought the Centralia High School student section to their feet.
In the closing moments of the Tigers’ regular season finale against visiting Rochester, Thomas came up with a steal. The athletic 6-foot-3 guard had spent most of the contest setting his teammates up for shots, but he had no intentions of passing this time around.
His one-handed thunderous dunk sent the home crowd into a frenzy and put the finishing touches on Centralia’s impressive 80-50 victory over the Warriors.
Thomas finished the game with 12 points and a career-high 11 assists.
“Defensively, I think I’ve been pretty consistent this year,” Thomas said. “I kind of faded away from it the last couple games. So I need to pick it back up during the playoffs. Offensively, it’s been an up and down year for me, but I’m getting more comfortable distributing the basketball.”
Centralia closed out the regular season with a flurry, winning its final four games – all by double digits – to secure the 2A Evergreen Conference’s No. 2 seed into the Southwest Washington District IV basketball tournament.
“We knew he was a good athlete. We just didn’t know what to expect from him coming into this season,” coach Kyle Donahue said, “but I tell you what, he turned into one of the top defenders in the league. We look for him defensively. When he gets into it defensively and decides he wants to shut a guy down the rest of the team really follows suit.”
The Tigers opened postseason play by defeating Columbia River, 65-54, in the opening round of the district tournament with Thomas chipping in nine points. Centralia ultimately secured the district’s third seed and advanced to the regional round of the state playoffs by defeating Tumwater (57-52) and Columbia River (71-64) in back-to-back loser-out games.
“He’s gotten smarter as the season’s gone on offensively,” Donahue said. “He’s recognizing his role on offense, getting the guys the ball, attacking when he needs to. He’s been a refreshing surprise as the season has gone on.”
Kenya Lorton, Adna basketball
The Pirates are back in the regional round of the 2B state playoffs and a large part of that has to do with the play of senior Kenya Lorton as the 5-foot-7 guard has been one of the most consistent players on Adna’s roster this season.
The Pirates went 14-2 in the stacked Central 2B League with their only setbacks coming against undefeated Wahkiakum and Kalama.
Adna began postseason play with a 71-23 victory over South Bend in the opening round of the 2B District IV tournament. Lorton nearly matched South Bend’s offensive output as she scored 22 points to help the Pirates race out to a commanding 42-13 lead at the half.
Following a 57-43 loss to Ilwaco in the quarterfinals, Adna found itself in the loser-out bracket. Faced with an early exit in the playoffs, the Pirates rallied to win three games, starting with a dominating 76-31 victory over Ocosta with Lorton scoring 18 points.
The Pirates followed up that win with two more lopsided triumphs, defeating Mossyrock (67-35) and Napavine (56-24) to punch their ticket regionals. Lorton ended district tournament play with an 11-point effort in the 48-41 loss to Ilwaco as Adna wrapped up the No. 4 seed.
The Pirates will play Napavine at regionals as they look to advance to state with a fourth straight win over their league rivals.
Community First Auto Group will be selecting an athlete of the month during the school year with all recipients being entered into a pool for a scholarship opportunity. The Athlete of the Year will be chosen at the end of the year with one male and one female student athlete receiving $500.
Sponsored
