With 15 seconds left in the first quarter of Thomas Jefferson’s 72-44 WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball quarterfinal victory over Fox Chapel, Maggie Spell made a layup. Right after, Jaguars coach Matt Gould called a timeout.

“I was like, ‘What was he doing?’ ” Spell said.

A strange response coming from a now-2,000-point scorer, but that had slipped Spell’s mind in the heat of the game.

“I actually forgot,” she said. “But we celebrated, and it was really fun.”

On the contrary, Gould was well aware of the history that was most likely to be made Wednesday night.

“It’s unbelievable,” Gould said of Spell’s accomplishment. “I think it’s like under 50 girls or players that have ever scored over 2,000. … Ironically, Karis Thomas was the last one, who (Spell) played with the first two years. So, I mean, I’m a player’s coach. I care about their accomplishments. I don’t care about myself. So that is, you know, that is No. 2 for today.”

No. 1 on Thomas Jefferson’s list was to advance in the WPIAL tournament, which it did handily.

With the win, the second-seeded Jaguars have won 14 straight games by an average of 24.3 points. They have won two playoff games by 29 and 28 points.

From the jump, literally, Thomas Jefferson’s offense was firing on all cylinders. After the Jaguars won the tip, Spell sprinted to the corner and fired her first 3-pointer not even 10 seconds into the game.

That type of efficiency was the theme of the first half.

Spell had seven of her team-high 21 points in the opening period, and the Jaguars only missed two shots en route to a 21-9 lead.

The buckets continued to rain down in the second as Thomas Jefferson scored 22 points and missed only one shot. By halftime, the Jaguars were up 43-20, were shooting 18 of 21 from the field and Spell (12) and Emily Hritz (13) combined for 25 points.

When asked how her team was so efficient, Spell said, “Honestly, just like practice. Like we go in there, get things done, get out — really efficient.”

In the third quarter, Thomas Jefferson cooled off, shooting a more reasonable 8 for 17, but the floodgates had already been opened. By the end of the quarter, the Jaguars led 63-36, and by the 2:50 mark of the fourth, the mercy rule kicked in.

Riley McCabe rounded out the double-digit scoring for Thomas Jefferson, finishing with 11.

For seventh-seeded Fox Chapel, Lyla Jablon scored a game-high 22 points. Outside of her production, though, the Foxes struggled, shooting 26.2% from the field and 3 of 13 from deep.

No. 2 Thomas Jefferson advances to the semifinals to face No. 6 Penn-Trafford, which defeated No. 3 Indiana on Wednesday.

How will the Jaguars get ready? By keeping things the same.

“Not change one thing,” Gould said of how his team will be doing business. “Go back to practice and do the exact same thing we’ve done since the beginning of November.”