“I knew she was going to knock it down, so I gave it up,” Chambers said.
Jones chased down the pass, but Thornton blocked her path to the basket. So Jones turned back toward the lane with two dribbles, then turned back to the right-side block with another dribble and shot. She was knocked off balance by Thornton’s foul but the shot banked in to tie the score with 22 seconds left. Jones made the free throw for a one-point lead.
“It’s just about trusting your teammates,” Wayne coach Jamar Shackelford said. “We talk about that all the time, and that’s just what we did.”
Fairmont, which made only 15 of 30 free throws, had a chance with 6 seconds left to take the lead back or force another overtime, but freshman guard Peyton Adams, who was fouled trying to score off a rebound, missed two free throws.
Wayne’s Morgyn Rose was fouled on the rebound. She made the second of two free throws with 4.6 seconds left. Fairmont got the ball into Thornton, who already had 26 points, and she dribbled to halfcourt and let a shot fly that almost won the game. The shot caromed off the back of the rim.
Wayne players rushed the floor and celebrated their 50-48 triple overtime victory that sends them to Saturday’s Division I district finals at Cincinnati Princeton where the Warriors will play Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame.
Jones’ winning points came at the end of a game that she didn’t feel she played well at times.
“One of our assistant coaches just kept being positive with her and told her to make a play, and she made one,” Shackelford said.
When Jones got the ball against Thornton she didn’t hesitate.
“She’s smaller than me, so I have a higher chance of making it on her than anybody else does,” Jones said.
Wayne (14-11) advances as the No. 11 seed with a two-point victory over No. 2 Beavercreek and No. 4 Fairmont (14-10). The Warriors won for the sixth time in their past seven games. In the next-to-last game of the regular season the Warriors won 51-39 at Fairmont.
“We’re just coming together at the right time, and they’re starting to believe, trust each other and staying positive,” Shackelford said. “It’s just a different feeling.”
Winning was almost the feeling for both teams at multiple points. Thornton scored with 14 seconds left in regulation to stop Wayne from winning then.
“Kayla Thornton is one of the best players in the state,” Shackelford said. “She was a handful tonight.”
Chambers matched Thornton at the end of the first overtime to cap a six-point comeback in the final 47 seconds. Thornton’s free throw with 1:04 left in the second overtime tied the score at 44, and it stayed that way when Chambers missed a difficult driving shot with two seconds left.
“Both teams played really hard,” Fairmont coach Jeremey Finn said. “It was a great GWOC game between two teams that know each other really well, and there was a lot of talent on the floor.”
Adams added 12 points for the Firebirds. She stepped into the starting lineup for two long stretches this season because of injuries to sophomore point guard Nico Cornett. She missed the first eight games with a hip injury, returned for 12 games, then was lost for the season to a knee injury at the start of Wayne game at the end of the season.
“We struggled a little bit in big moments,” Finn said. “We gave up offensive rebounds, we didn’t shoot well from the free-throw line. It was up and down, but I’m proud of the kids. They didn’t quit.”
Wayne had to fight adversity as well and remain composed through the ups and downs, the turnovers, missed free throws and other missteps. Second-leading scorer Imani Frazier fouled out with five points. But Chambers was close to her team-leading average with 10 points and Rose made three 3-pointers for 17 points, her second highest total this season.
“The biggest thing was just trying not to lose control emotionally, trying to keep the girls together and let them know it’s not over,” Shackelford said. “That was the biggest thing.”
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