The Firebirds routed Newark 64-39 in a D-I regional semifinal game on Tuesday at the Ohio Expo Center’s Taft Coliseum to improve to 25-0.
Thornton had a game-high 23 points — and made some history along the way — as the program advanced to a regional final game for the first time since 2020.
“I’m very excited, very happy with the team,” Thornton said. “We worked so hard in practice day in and day out. I’m just really happy for our coaches and our teammates.” Firebirds senior Nico Cornett had 14 points, six assists and six rebounds and sophomore Maliyah Bailey had 10 points for Fairmont.
“We are really proud of the girls,” said Firebirds coach Jeremey Finn. “I thought we did a really good job defensively. We got in early foul trouble, but I thought we did a really good job responding. We got some easy transition points with some deflections. We’re just really proud and we’ll head back, figure out who we got next and get back to practice.”
Fairmont will play Olentangy in the D-I, Region 2 final at 6 p.m. Friday at the Taft Coliseum with a state berth on the line. The Braves beat Berea-Midpark 77-42 in the other regional semifinal game.
The Firebirds jumped out to a 14-6 lead on a steal and layup by Bailey. They led 17-10 after the first quarter.
Fairmont broke the game open a few minutes later. They went on a 12-1 run, forcing a Newark timeout with about five minutes remaining in the half. Bailey hit 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to give her team a 40-18 halftime lead.
In the second half, Thornton scored her 15th point to set Fairmont’s career scoring mark and finished the game with a career total of 1,564 points. The record of 1,555 points was previously held by Kathryn Westbeld, a 2014 grad who went on to play at Notre Dame and is currently a member of the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Mercury.
“She can defend, she can score it,” Finn said of Thornton. “She had some great passes today as well. She’s kind of the motor that gets us going a little bit. Really proud of her, that’s a great accomplishment, especially with Westbeld’s (career numbers). We’re really happy for her.”
Thornton was a seventh grader in 2020, the last time the Firebirds advanced to a regional final, the state’s version of the Elite Eight. Her sister, Kierra Thornton, was a member of that team.
At the time, Kaylah never dreamed she would become the school’s all-time leading scorer — now it’s a reality.
“I just love the game of basketball and just continue to work hard and stay focused and lead,” the University of Akron commit said.
Cornett hit two 3-pointers and served as the Firebirds’ facilitator in their half-court offense.
“She’s done that the last several weeks,” Finn said. “She’s 100% healthy. She makes a lot of things happen. Defensively, she’s been playing like that all year. But offensively, she was something a little different today, so that was fantastic.”
At this point in the season, the program’s singular focus, Finn said, is winning the next game.
“We’re playing really good basketball, and have all year,” Finn said, “so now it’s just go 1-0 and we’ll get ready for the next game. It’s win or go home and our seniors, they really love playing together. And so it’s kind of like, ‘Well, we know what we have to do.’”
With one more victory, the Firebirds are headed to the state tournament.
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