Jim Thorpe's Kayley Kovac has picked up right where she left off last season.

The leading scorer in the area a season ago at nearly 25 points a game, Kovac appears to be in mid-season form already.Wednesday night against Tamaqua, Kovac scored a game-high 27 points in just three quarters of play as the Olympians rolled to 72-39 victory over Tamaqua."Kayley is not fazed by box-and-one defenses because she's seen it before," Jim Thorpe coach Rob Kovac said. "Kayley is constantly pushing the basketball forward. I don't know if she understands the direction backwards. Sometimes, I wish she did."But, that constant pushing the ball, pushing the ball, pushing the ball, I think at some point if you're not used to it, she's going to start to wear other teams down."Kayley Kovac was far from a one-person show, however, as the Olympians placed three other players in double figures.Payton Kovac added four three-pointers for 12 points, Alexys Naranjo scored 11 points, and Kaitlyn Ohl chipped in 10 points."The nice thing is that a year ago it was Kayley's offense, but we didn't really have a lot else out there," coach Kovac said. "Payton worked hard over the summer to become a good shooter and then she comes out and bangs four three-pointers tonight. Alexis Naranjo is just coming into form where's she starting to get her offensive game back. Ohl is kind of a compliment to us. A year ago, we didn't have a post that could run the floor like her. Now, you put Ohl in the game and she is beating 'bigs' down the court and she had six or eight tonight on just catching the ball in transition."While the Olympians may have had a field day, that wasn't the case for the Raiders, although there were a couple of bright spots.Courtney Hoffman scored 13 points and Kayla Sherry scored 11 points. The pair combined to score 19 of their 23 points in the second half as Tamaqua was more competitive after intermission."This is one of those losses that is going to help us in the long run," Tamaqua coach Erika Davis said. "Obviously, no one likes to be 0-3, but at the same time we're learning. We know wins are going to be hard to come by and this is a process."But improving each day is what's important. Getting better tomorrow at practice is the first step. We're going to have to have a short memory and put this behind us. We're just looking to improve each day and become a better basketball team all-around."FIVE STRAIGHT ... Jim Thorpe has now won the last five meetings between the teams. The last time Tamaqua came out on top was back on Jan. 11, 2013 when the Blue Raiders scored a 49-25 win.LID ON THE RIM ... It surely wasn't Tamaqua's night for putting up the points. It finished the night 14-for-55 from the floor (25 percent shooting percentage). The second quarter really hurt the host as they didn't hit a single basket in 19 attempts. The only points they put on the board were two free throws by Mackenzie McVicker. On the night, the Olympians finished with a 45-percent shooting percentage (29-for-64).JIM THORPERichards 1-0-0-2, P. Kovac 4-0-0-12, Behan 0-0-0-0, Dulski 0-0-0-0, Condly 0-0-0-0, Ohl 5-0-0-10, Naranjo 5-0-0-11, K. Kovac 10-6-13-27, Cressman 2-0-0-4, Waselus 0-0-0-0, Lignore 1-1-4-3, Gabel 1-0-0-3, Fasolino 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 29-7-17-72.TAMAQUAHoffman 4-5-6-13, Hromyak 0-0-0-0, Pedersen 0-0-0-0, Sherry 4-0-0-11, Jones 2-0-1-4, Ceci 0-0-0-0, Stauffenberg 0-0-0-0, Amershek 3-0-0-7, Boran-Smith 1-0-0-2, McVicker 0-2-2-2, Shamonsky 0-0-0-0, Agosti 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-7-9-39.Jim Thorpe 12 19 17 22 - 72Tamaqua 7 2 11 19 - 39Three-pointers: Jim Thorpe - P. Kovac 4, Naranjo 1, K. Kovac 1, Gabel 1; Tamaqua - Sherry 3, Amershek 1.