Thomas Jefferson called a timeout about a minute into the game after Penn-Trafford scored the first five points.
“Settle, relax,” Jaguars coach Matt Gould told his girls. “You haven’t done anything wrong or right yet.”
The second-seeded Jaguars called another timeout late in the fourth. This time, they really could relax because they did a lot right.
Thomas Jefferson untangled an early deficit and methodically pulled away from No. 6 Penn-Trafford to win a physical WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball semifinal, 69-41, on Saturday afternoon at Norwin.
The Jaguars (22-2) advance to the finals for the first time since 2019 and will play No. 1 South Fayette (24-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Petersen Events Center.
Thomas Jefferson has ended Penn-Trafford’s WPIAL title hopes two years in a row. The Jaguars edged the Warriors in last year’s quarterfinals, 65-60 in overtime, also at Norwin.
Penn-Trafford (19-6), in the semifinals for the first time since 2014, moves into the consolation bracket to play for PIAA seeding. It hosts Peters Township (15-9) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“If we get more shots to fall, it’s a different game,” Penn-Trafford coach Chuck Fontana said. “(Thomas Jefferson) played better defensively than the last couple games we saw on film. I thought we went blow for blow early. We had to start pressing and that got us out of what we do a little.”
The Jaguars outscored the Warriors, 24-6, in the fourth when Penn-Trafford was plagued by foul trouble.
“The second one was a breathing timeout,” Gould said. “I think the world of Penn-Trafford. We beat Penn-Trafford by 28. That is shocking to me. Our girls wanted this and executed our game plan.”
Junior Emma Altivilla scored a game-high 23 points, senior Maggie Spell added 17 and senior Alex Wilson chipped in 11 for Thomas Jefferson.
Spell hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the Jaguars to tie it 10-10 after the first quarter.
But a 13-0 run early in the second allowed the Jaguars to take the lead for good.
Junior Emily Hritz made a 3 just before the second quarter buzzer to give the Jaguars a 27-19 advantage.
Penn-Trafford chipped away in the third, closing the gap to 29-24 on a 3 from sophomore Raya Johnson, but junior Alex Wilson and Altavilla both scored to stretch it to nine.
Altivilla had 14 in the second half.
“Emma had the game of her life in the WPIAL semifinals,” Gould said.
Hritz and Wilson hit 3s in the third, where Penn-Trafford could get to within seven.
Spell made another 3 to open the fourth. An 11-0 run pushed the score to 54-35.
Senior Torrie DeStefano made a 3 to cut it to 16, but the Jaguars scored 13 of the final 14 points.
Gould and Spell were pleased with how the team handled Penn-Trafford’s pressure and physical play.
“They were ratcheted up,” Gould said of his team.
“Our start wasn’t the best but we locked in,” said Spell, who topped 2,000 career points in the last game. “We watched film and knew they had shooters. We did a good job against them.”
Penn-Trafford managed just three 3s, all in the second half.
DeStefano, who picked up her fourth foul early in the third, led the Warriors with 16 points, 11 in the second half, and senior Hannah Weishaar added 11 before fouling out.
The Warriors made 12 of 13 free throws. The Jaguars hit 12 of 16.
Hritz made three 3s for nine points.
Junior guard Izzie Fontana left the game with four minutes left with a knee injury. Her father does not think the injury is serious and is not sure if she will play Tuesday.
“This is the second time we’ve made the semifinals in school history,” Chuck Fontana said. “This will stink for awhile. It will eat at you a little bit. But we’ll get back to it.”