The Jim Thorpe football team’s defense is known as the Red Swarm.

After Tuesday night’s ball-stalking, turnover-hawking pressure defense, the Olympian girls basketball team may have earned themselves the nickname the “White Freeze.”

The white jerseys of the home team seemingly froze Tamaqua into a standstill during its attempts to move the ball from the backcourt into the offensive zone, and the result was a 63-26 Schuylkill League victory.

Thorpe (3-0) took control of the game in the second quarter, causing 10 turnovers during the eight minutes that produced a 14-2 run and a 44-18 lead at the intermission.

“We work hard on (our pressure defense), and it’s paying off,” said Olympian head coach Nadia Gauronsky. “One of our goals tonight was to try to limit them to 16 first-half points, and we almost did.”

The Blue Raiders (2-3) kept the game close at the start as Thorpe missed several shots. After JT’s Leila Hurley sank one of her three three-pointers in the period, Tamaqua’s Lorelei Plasha responded with a basket that put the score at 5-4 in favor of the Olympians.

Hurley’s second triple at the 4:45 mark gave her team a 10-6 edge, and her third gave Thorpe a seven-point advantage with 2:45 left. The Raiders’ Serena Jones then got free underneath with a layup to close out the period with her team down 19-12.

But then along came the “White Freeze,” and within the first two-and-a-half minutes, the Olympians’ lead ballooned to 33-14. Olivia Smelas and Skyler Searfoss scored eight points apiece, while Leah Snisky chipped in another six during their transitions from defense to offense that led to every basket being scored on either layups or putbacks.

Gauronsky has said her team has totally bought into this year’s style of play on defense, and isn’t really concerned if that might cause her players some foul issues.

“Sometimes, we are overly aggressive and foul, but we want to contain the offense into small spaces on the court. And when we do that, they make mistakes, turn the ball over, and then we get right into our transition game.”

Unselfish play is another feature of the Olympians’ game strategy.

Searfoss was often able to penetrate the lane to find Smelas with bounce passes for easy layups, but the overall scoring was balanced. At the end of the night, four JT starters finished in double figures.

Tamaqua mentor Erika Davis thought her team competed well, but she knew there were going to be problems shutting down Thorpe’s multitalented offense.

“We don’t match up well against them,” said Davis. “They have five solid players. I thought we played hard and didn’t give up, and we can learn and build on this to make us better.”

In the third period, Jim Thorpe scored the first two buckets on a steal by Searfoss - who assisted a driving layup by Smelas - and then Hurley followed with a bank shot. The Raiders scored twice in row on a layup by Trenyce Wingler, and a putback by Jones.

In the final frame, Tamaqua was held scoreless for the full eight minutes as Thorpe increased its margin of victory to 37 points.

Besides holding the opposition to a specific number of points in the first half, Gauronsky set two other goals for her team.

“We wanted to keep our turnovers to three or less in the first half, and get at least eight assists,” she said.

The Olympians met those two goals with just three turnovers, while finishing with double digits in assists.

DEFENSE KEYS OFFENSE

... Thorpe’s backcourt pressure defense caused 24 Tamaqua turnovers, which resulted in high percentage shot attempts. Seventeen of JT’s baskets were either layups or short banks off the glass.

UP NEXT

... Jim Thorpe plays Northampton on Dec. 28 in the first round of the four-team Stacy Perryman Memorial Christmas Tournament. The winner will meet either Pocono Mountain West or Abbington Heights in the championship game. Tamaqua will host Nativity on Dec. 29.

TAMAQUA

S. Jones 3-3-4-9, L. Plasha 3-0-0-6, Wingler 2-1-1-5, K. Robb 1-0-0-2, A. Jones 1-0-0-2, Streisel 0-2-2-2, Meckes 0-0-0-0, G. Robb 0-0-0-0, Hope 0-0-0-0, Werner 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-6-7-26.

JIM THORPE

O. Smelas 7-1-2-15, Hurley 5-1-1-14, Searfoss 6-1-2-13, L. Snisky 5-2-2-12, Yuhas 1-2-2-4, Cinicola 0-2-2-2, H. Smelas 0-2-2-2, Hartman 0-0-0-0, B. Snisky 0-0-0-0, Ginopolas 0-0-0-0, Wainwright 0-0-0-0, Robinson 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 24-12-15-63.

Tamaqua 12 6 8 0 - 26

Jim Thorpe 19 25 12 7 - 63

Three-pointers: Tamaqua - None; Jim Thorpe - Hurley 3.