Eagles Bury Triton In Third
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Triton coach Mark Heeter was left scratching his head.
After watching his Trojans handle Columbia City's patented press for 2 1/2 quarters Thursday, they unraveled right before his eyes in the third period of the Eagles 70-48 win in the Warsaw Girls' Basketball Sectional.
Triton led 29-27 midway through the third when the Eagles turned up the heat, putting the pressure on the Trojans and turnovers ensued. It didn't cool off for Triton until Columbia City had made a 17-0 run in the next few minutes and take a 46-34 lead.
It was something the Trojans had not experienced all season in a splendid 14-4 regular season campaign and could not recover from.
"We handled the press the whole game and all of the sudden we started to throw it away," Heeter said. "Throw in some offensive rebounds and we don't score, it doesn't take long to get a good run together.
"We played with them, and then they went on the 17-0 and we couldn't catch up," he said. "We didn't have another run in us like we did in the first half."
Triton had five turnovers in City's run and totaled six for the quarter.
It was a tactical error by Columbia City that allowed Triton to be in the game by halftime in the first place.
With 5:30 left and holding a 20-12 lead, the Eagles decided to pull the ball back and hold it until Triton came out of its zone. The Trojans wouldn't move, and the Eagles held the ball for three minutes until Erica Schory was fouled.
Schory missed the front end of the one-and-one and things began to unravel for Columbia City. City missed four more free throws in the final minutes, and the Trojans answered with a 12-2 run to take a 24-22 halftime lead.
"At that point, I was content to go in down eight at halftime," Heeter said. "With the foul trouble we were in, I thought 'let them hold it.' We will come out in the second half and work our way back into the ball game.
"It certainly turned into our favor," he said. "That is when we went on a little bit of a run. It was good to see us get back into the game at the point."
Heeter watched most of the second half sitting on the bench after picking up a technical foul.
In the second half, it was too much Schory and Connie Myers.
The Columbia City duo accounted for 25 of the Eagles' 28 points in the third quarter and 34 of 48 second-half points.
Schory (27 points) and Myers (25 points) outscored Triton by themselves. And bad news for future Eagle opponents, Schory is a junior and Myers just a freshman.
"Turnovers and their offensive rebounds, bottom line, that is what killed us," Heeter said.
Those areas too were led by Schory and Myers. Schory had six steals and five rebounds, all of her boards came in that big third period. Myer crashed the boards for 11 caroms.
Things started off very badly for the Trojans, who fell in an 18-6 hole in the first quarter. A rebound layup by Amilia Devros helped cut the margin to 18-10 at the end of the period.
A free throw by Audra Meinert made it 20-12 when the Eagles went into their stall. Triton got a layup from Sarber, a rebound layup from Chris Wanemacher, a three-pointer from Sarber, a jumper from Devros and three points from Kintzel gave the Trojans their first lead of the game, 24-22, at the break.
Triton finishes with a 14-5 record, including a perfect 7-0 mark in claiming a Northern State Conference title.
"We have had a great season," Heeter said. "It is tough, and they are disappointed. That is the worse we have been all year. At least we have a different nucleus coming back for next year. With a different (class) format, it should be interesting."
Megan Sarber led Triton with 13 points, while Jessica Kintzel added 11 and Chris Wanemacher 10.
The Trojans were also hurt by the fact that leading scorer, Rachael Yeiter, entered the game scoring 13 points a game and got shut out by the Eagles' defense.
Columbia City (14-6) faces Warsaw Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the sectional semifinals. [[In-content Ad]]
Triton coach Mark Heeter was left scratching his head.
After watching his Trojans handle Columbia City's patented press for 2 1/2 quarters Thursday, they unraveled right before his eyes in the third period of the Eagles 70-48 win in the Warsaw Girls' Basketball Sectional.
Triton led 29-27 midway through the third when the Eagles turned up the heat, putting the pressure on the Trojans and turnovers ensued. It didn't cool off for Triton until Columbia City had made a 17-0 run in the next few minutes and take a 46-34 lead.
It was something the Trojans had not experienced all season in a splendid 14-4 regular season campaign and could not recover from.
"We handled the press the whole game and all of the sudden we started to throw it away," Heeter said. "Throw in some offensive rebounds and we don't score, it doesn't take long to get a good run together.
"We played with them, and then they went on the 17-0 and we couldn't catch up," he said. "We didn't have another run in us like we did in the first half."
Triton had five turnovers in City's run and totaled six for the quarter.
It was a tactical error by Columbia City that allowed Triton to be in the game by halftime in the first place.
With 5:30 left and holding a 20-12 lead, the Eagles decided to pull the ball back and hold it until Triton came out of its zone. The Trojans wouldn't move, and the Eagles held the ball for three minutes until Erica Schory was fouled.
Schory missed the front end of the one-and-one and things began to unravel for Columbia City. City missed four more free throws in the final minutes, and the Trojans answered with a 12-2 run to take a 24-22 halftime lead.
"At that point, I was content to go in down eight at halftime," Heeter said. "With the foul trouble we were in, I thought 'let them hold it.' We will come out in the second half and work our way back into the ball game.
"It certainly turned into our favor," he said. "That is when we went on a little bit of a run. It was good to see us get back into the game at the point."
Heeter watched most of the second half sitting on the bench after picking up a technical foul.
In the second half, it was too much Schory and Connie Myers.
The Columbia City duo accounted for 25 of the Eagles' 28 points in the third quarter and 34 of 48 second-half points.
Schory (27 points) and Myers (25 points) outscored Triton by themselves. And bad news for future Eagle opponents, Schory is a junior and Myers just a freshman.
"Turnovers and their offensive rebounds, bottom line, that is what killed us," Heeter said.
Those areas too were led by Schory and Myers. Schory had six steals and five rebounds, all of her boards came in that big third period. Myer crashed the boards for 11 caroms.
Things started off very badly for the Trojans, who fell in an 18-6 hole in the first quarter. A rebound layup by Amilia Devros helped cut the margin to 18-10 at the end of the period.
A free throw by Audra Meinert made it 20-12 when the Eagles went into their stall. Triton got a layup from Sarber, a rebound layup from Chris Wanemacher, a three-pointer from Sarber, a jumper from Devros and three points from Kintzel gave the Trojans their first lead of the game, 24-22, at the break.
Triton finishes with a 14-5 record, including a perfect 7-0 mark in claiming a Northern State Conference title.
"We have had a great season," Heeter said. "It is tough, and they are disappointed. That is the worse we have been all year. At least we have a different nucleus coming back for next year. With a different (class) format, it should be interesting."
Megan Sarber led Triton with 13 points, while Jessica Kintzel added 11 and Chris Wanemacher 10.
The Trojans were also hurt by the fact that leading scorer, Rachael Yeiter, entered the game scoring 13 points a game and got shut out by the Eagles' defense.
Columbia City (14-6) faces Warsaw Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the sectional semifinals. [[In-content Ad]]