Jim Thorpe girls’ team returns from Orlando trip with buckets full of memories

Cold weather. Warm hearts.

With recent temperatures frozen near zero, the Jim Thorpe girls’ basketball team can still feel the heat from its sunny days spent at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports in mid December.

Coupled with victories won on the hardwood, their trip to the KSA National Basketball Holiday Tournament in Orlando, Florida was a resounding success.

“It was a special experience of basketball and bonding for all of us,” said Jim Thorpe coach Rob Kovac.

The game plan to fund the trip for players, coaches, and parents was to raise $35,000. “Rather than have the kids sell candy and the like, we went to the heavy hitters,” said Lauren Kovac, treasurer of the Lady Olympian Booster Club.

The fundraising operation to play in the invitational tournament began two years ago in October with the Lady Olympian Golf Tournament at the Mahoning Valley Country Club. Eight thousand dollars was raised from contributors that included Jim Thorpe National Bank and ConnectCare3, a company affiliated with the school district’s health insurance program.

Hoops on the Hill, an elementary school basketball event, raised $3,000 for the trip and a Booster Club summer picnic brought in $3,500 from concession sales. A spaghetti dinner at Memorial Hall, another golf tournament and more sponsor contributions raised the total amount to over $35,000.

“Counting players, coaches, and parents, we had a group of 40 going to Orlando,” said Lauren.

Departing from Philadelphia Airport, the Olympian entourage arrived in Orlando on Dec. 13 for the five-day tournament that included lodging at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, two meals a day per person, and tickets to the theme parks for everyone.

“It was a cool experience, “ said Lauren. “Some of our kids had never been to Disney World.”

The tournament bracket for Jim Thorpe listed teams from Arkansas, Texas, Canada and Utah along with two others from Pennsylvania.

In their first contest, Thorpe played Bentonsville, Arkansas, a team that went on to win the tournament championship.

“They had multiple players who were over six feet tall,” said Rob Kovac. We hung in there with them and were only down by six points with four minutes to go before they opened up the margin. They had scouted us and ran a box and one defense on Kayley (Kovac), but Payton (Kovac) put down 19 points. I was really proud of how hard all of our kids competed.”

In their second game, the Olympians defeated a team from Oley Valley, PA. by 25 points in what was Coach Kovac’s 100th win since he began his career at Jim Thorpe.

Their third and final match up was with Lincoln Park Academy from Pittsburgh, who had beaten the Canadian team the day before by 25 points. Kayley Kovac had a monster performance in her father’s 200th total career victory, scoring 35 points and pulling down 15 rebounds in the Olympians’ 50-35 win. For her outstanding overall play, Kayley was selected for the MVP award in her team’s bracket.

When asked about their trip to Orlando, seniors Jackie Condly and Devon Lignore both said they really enjoyed bonding with their teammates,

“We got to spend a lot of time together, especially with the younger players on our team,” said Condly. “When we’re home, we have school all day and the only time we really see each other is at practice and games.”

“I liked doing the same things with everyone everyday, said Lignore who at 5-9 was given the task of guarding opponents who were 6-3 in each game.

“The best night was watching fireworks at Epcot after we had the Celebration of Athletes’ dinner, “ she added.

The entire experience was a great time that was had by all except for the few minutes when Coach Kovac and assistant coach John Kohler reluctantly agreed to ride the Tower of Terror rollercoaster with their players.

“We both don’t like to lift our feet off the ground,” said Kovac. “I hated every second of the ride and John said it was the worst thing he ever did in his life.”

For every member of the Jim Thorpe girls’ basketball team, their coaches and their parents, the trip to Orlando just might be remembered as one of the best things they ever did in their lives.

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OLD SCHOOL BASKETBALL ... The Tamaqua girls defeated Nativity last week. Neither team had trouble scoring, as they combined for 93 points. The unusual part of the game was that there were no three-point baskets, a rare occurrence these days in high school hoops. In fact, it was the only time in 10 games this season that Tamaqua didn’t have a three-pointer in one of its games and the first time in their last 14 games, dating back to last year in a Jan. 30 game with Pine Grove that there wasn’t a three-pointer in a Raider game.

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NO QUIT ... On Jan. 2, the Palmerton girls basketball team rallied from five points down to tie Salisbury at the end of regulation and then pushed the Falcons to two overtimes before succumbing.

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SINGLE DIGITS — OUTSIDE AND INSIDE ... On a night when the temperature outside hovered just above zero, it was just as cold inside the gym for the Lehighton boys, who only could manage single digits in each quarter in their loss to a strong Pottsville team.

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NOT MISSING A BEAT ... Tamaqua’s Brayden Knoblauch missed the first six games of the season after suffering a separated shoulder in the Raiders final football game of the season. After scoring single digits in his first two games as he gradually worked his way back into the lineup following his return, Knoblauch exploded for three big games last week. The Tamaqua sophomore scored 13 points against Schuylkill Haven, 12 against Blue Mountain, and 21 against Pine Grove. In the three games, he had a combined 10 three-pointers. For his performance, Knoblauch was named the Schuylkill League Athlete of the Week for the week ending Jan. 9. Previously, Minersville’s Maggie Wigoda received the award for the Week of Dec. 18, and North Schuylkill’s Averi Jordan won the award for the week of Jan. 2.