If an immense amount of pressure is applied to a piece of coal, a diamond can be created.

The Jim Thorpe girls basketball team turned up its pressure on Thursday evening to create a diamond-like performance.

The Olympians full-court pressure proved to be too much for Schuylkill League Division 1 opponent Pine Grove, with Thorpe earning a 55-29 victory.

The second quarter was the critical frame for Thorpe in this one. Leading by just one early in the second, the Olympians switched things up, going to their full-court pressure. The Cardinals struggled in matching the up-and-down tempo Thorpe’s pressure created and it showed, as they committed 10 turnovers during the Olympians’ 17-2 run.

Jim Thorpe’s big run gave it a 16-point advantage at the half, as Skyler Searfoss and Olivia Smelas both scored eight points to help Thorpe get out to the comfortable lead.

“We thought we could come out and be successful pressuring them, we knew our guards had a size advantage as well and we thought we could get some things from that,” said Olympians head coach Rob Kovac. “I think we could really be a good pressure team, but we can’t pressure as much as we would like, just right now we don’t have the depth to do that, we have to save our legs a bit, until we develop our bench a bit more.

“But I’m proud of the way the girls handled the game. We knew Pine Grove had a run in it, because those girls always play so hard.”

Kovac was right.

Trailing by 20 at the 5-minute mark in the third, the Cardinals cut the lead to 13 just one minute later. The score would stay that way for the next two minutes until Leila Hurley’s triple off an inbounds play stretched the lead back to 16. Hurley was able to hit timely trifectas — three of them — throughout the night to keep Pine Grove at a distance when it seemed it might be gaining ground.

“We’re a young team, we’re a little inexperienced and you can see that with us at times. We’ve made a living off pressuring teams, it can take you out of what you want to do and that’s what Jim Thorpe was able to do to us tonight,” said Pine Grove head coach Bill Evans. “We were really never able to recover from the deficit we were in because of their pressure.”

Thorpe (5-0, 2-0) did a good job of finishing off the Cardinals in the fourth, going on a 9-2 run to end the game.

“We haven’t seen much adversity yet this season, and when they went on that run in the third, I think we handled it well. That’s a good sign for us moving forward,” said Kovac.

TRIPLE DOUBLE-DOUBLE ... Thorpe post player Olivia Smelas recorded her third consecutive double double, scoring 10 points and ripping down 12 rebounds against the Cardinals.

LEADERS ... Searfoss led the way with 16 points, Hurley added 15 and Smelas notched 10 for the Olympians. Ali Butler scored a game-high 17 for Pine Grove.

TURNOVER TOWN ... Thorpe’s full-court pressure helped to force 20 Cardinal turnovers on the night.

JIM THORPE

Richards 2-1-2-6, Scott 1-2-3-4, Snisky 0-0-0-0, Berger 0-0-0-0, Hurley 5-2-2-15, Searfoss 4-8-8-16, Smelas 5-0-0-10, Solt 0-0-0-0, Craigie 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 19-13-15-55.

PINE GROVE

Donmoyer 2-0–0-5, Butler 7-2-4-17, Lengle 0-0-0-0, Jacoby 1-0-0-3, Betz 1-0-0-2, Frew 0-2-2-2, Brown 0-0-2-0, Dorson 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-4-8-29.

Jim Thorpe 8 19 15 13 - 55

Pine Grove 5 6 12 7 - 29

Three-pointers: JT - Hurley 3, Richards 1; PG - Donmoyer 1, Butler 1, Jacoby 1.