BOURBON - The Triton girls basketball team played in its first regional game at home against Morgan Township Saturday. Despite having the home-court advantage, the Trojans struggled from the field all night and lost 60-44.

Morgan Township got off to an early start as Karin Morrisroe stole a Triton pass and took it the length of the court for a layup. Morrisroe then added two free throws before she had trouble with a contact lens and did not score for the rest of the quarter.

With Morrisroe's shooting woes, Triton was able to capitalize. The Trojans got contributions from several different players. Jessica Kintzel scored four points in the first quarter, while Kendra Blackford, Chris Scott, and Melissa Nifong each had two. Despite being able to get four different players in the scoring column, Triton was only able to put 10 points on the board as it was tied with the Cherokees at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Morrisroe came out of her shooting slump. She had seven points on 3-of-3 shooting. The rest of Morgan Township shot 5 of 10 from the field.

As the Cherokees began hitting from the field, Triton started to struggle. Triton could only manage to shoot 4 of 23 in the second quarter. They also were unable to get to the foul line. Morgan Township wasn't called for any fouls in the first quarter and only three in the second quarter. The inability of the Trojans to draw fouls and Triton's own foul trouble led to Morgan Township outscoring Triton 20-9. As time expired in the first half, Morrisroe nailed a three-pointer to extend the Cherokees at halftime to 11.

The third quarter seemed to be just a continuation of Morgan Township's play in the first half. Morrisroe continued to hurt the Trojans. She scored six of her game-high 25 points in the third quarter.

Containing Morrisroe is what Triton coach Mark Heeter talked to his team about during halftime.

"We wanted to try and pressure them, but we couldn't stop Morrisroe," Heeter said. "Two times down the floor she would score, and we would go back to a zone but they would just throw us out of it."

Triton continued to struggle from the field. The Lady Trojans hit only 3 of 10 from the field in the quarter. The one bright spot for Triton was Kintzel. She hit all of Triton's field goals in the quarter and also had the Trojans' only free throw attempts as she converted on 2 of 2 from the line.

Triton also suffered a blow when, with 2:30 left in the quarter, Scott injured her knee and went to the bench. She wouldn't return to the contest until the 4:05 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Cherokees started the fourth quarter with a 15-point lead and pushed it up to 18 points before Triton stormed back. Triton's Amilia Devros scored eight straight points as the Trojans cut the deficit to 11. Then Heeter was called for a technical foul.

Fortunately for Triton, Morrisroe missed three of the four free throws - the two technical foul shots and one from a call made before the technical. On Morgan Township's ensuing possession, Megan Hefner went strong to the hoop and laid it in to push the Cherokees' lead to 14. That proved to break the back of Triton as they were outscored by Morgan Township 5-2 to finish the games.

Despite the loss, Heeter was proud of the play of his team, especially his seniors.

"They're sad, they played hard and we are going to miss (the seniors)," he said. "I'm pretty proud of the way we fought and battled and got back into the game."

Triton ends its season at 15-9. [[In-content Ad]]