Here’s a shoutout to the Jim Thorpe girls’ basketball team, which last Saturday ended an incredible season that included a trip to the PIAA Class 4A semifinal game in Bethlehem against the defending state champs, Archbishop Wood of Warminster, Bucks County.

Although they lost 57-42, Jim Thorpe finished the season with a phenomenal 28-2 record. The only other loss was to Dunmore, a team they later beat in the state quarterfinals, 40-39. That game was one for the ages as the Olympians overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to win on Skyler Searfoss’ jumper with less than three seconds left.

Before the loss to Dunmore on Jan. 22, the Olympians had won 12 games in a row. After that Dunmore game, Jim Thorpe went on to win 16 straight before the Archbishop Wood loss.

Naturally, there is a feeling of disappointment that Jim Thorpe could not win the semifinal game and advance to Thursday’s state championship game, but the list of accomplishments this team achieved is super impressive.

The Olympians won the Schuylkill League championship with an unblemished 15-0 record. Their 28 wins were the most of any state 4A ranked team.

They went further in state playoff competition than any other District 11 girls’ squad this season and equaled the boys’ District 11 run in states by Pottsville Nativity, which also lost in its semifinal game in Class 1A, to Neumann Regional, 82-62. This is the deepest any Jim Thorpe girls’ basketball team has gone in the state playoffs in school history.

This year’s team, anchored by four-year starters Skyler Searfoss, Leila Hurley, Olivia Smelas, and Leah Snisky, bettered the former school record of 26 wins achieved when the girls were freshmen.

As impressive as Jim Thorpe’s season was, it still could not overcome a deep Archbishop Wood team that since 2010 has reached the state semifinals nine times and has won six state championships. Against incredibly competitive programs, this year’s Vikings team is 24-5 going into the final.

Olympians’ coach Nadia Gauronsky knew that this would be her team’s toughest assignment of the season, but the Olympians, while not on the same level as the Vikings’ bench depth, were not intimidated. In speaking to Times News sports reporter Rich Strack in a pregame interview, she described her team as “coal region tough.”

(I also want to give a personal shoutout to Gauronsky, a Summit Hill native now living in the Bowmanstown area and a teacher in the Pleasant Valley School District. She and I were among Summit Hill’s inductees into the 2019 class of the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame.)

Gauronsky took over the girls’ team when Rob Kovac resigned in April 2020 after 13 seasons. Between the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Kovac’s teams were 49-7, including a Schuylkill League championship. In Kovac’s last season, the team was 23-5 and made it to the District 11 4A championship game. In Gauronsky’s two seasons, the teams have gone 47-8.

I also want to give a shoutout to the Jim Thorpe fan base, which showed up in force last Saturday to cheer on the team. It’s obvious that the Jim Thorpe area community got caught up in this area’s version of March Madness, and it was so exciting to watch and be a part of.

I’m sure there will be a significant community show of appreciation for the team’s herculean efforts this season with an appropriate acknowledgment and celebration in the near future.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.