Triton Girls End Season In Regional Final
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
CULVER -ÊCulver's gym seems to be a home away from home for the Triton Lady Trojans. And why not it's a nice, sleepy, resort town during the summer. But February can get pretty cold and unfortunately the Trojans felt the chill on Saturday night falling to Fort Wayne Canterbury 48-45 in the 2A regional final.
Triton began the day in a physical contest against South Newton where it prevailed 55-33. In its second game of the day it ran into super freshman Megan King of Canterbury. The state's third leading scorer at 27.6 per game put up with some freshman hazing from the Triton student cheering block with unneeded taunts of "Ball Hog" every time she touched the ball.
Luckily for her and her teammates she is. She finished the game with 30 points after laying 39 on Whiting in their earlier contest. It was her final two of the night that sealed the proverbial deal. After Triton's Holly Heckaman long three-point try went to Canterbury's Adaline Moppert, she found King who leaked out and went the distance for an easy layin. Triton's Carly Feldman answered with a basket of her own and Lindsay Stutzman nailed a three pointer to make it a one possession game at 48-45. However, only three seconds remained and Triton had no timeouts to stop the remaining ticks from going off the board.
The two squads went back and forth all night. Early on it seemed as though Canterbury would be avoiding any sort of dramatics. The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead to start the game. Triton shook off any jitters and jumped right back into it and tied things up at 13-13 after one quarter despite nine points from King in the first. Triton coach Mark Heeter's game plan was to make King shoot it from the outside by dropping her defender down, eliminating the drive. That worked to perfection in the second quarter.
King went cold from the field in the second quarter, 0-of-8-from-the-field cold to be more specific. And as King goes so does Canterbury. Exhibit A, the second quarter in Saturday night's contest. The Cavaliers managed a paltry two points. Unfortunately for Triton they couldn't pull far enough away putting only a seven spot themselves. It did however give the Trojans the 20-15 edge going into the break.
Part of Triton's scoring woes were the lack of involvement by 5-foot-11 senior Carly Feldman. Feldman, who put up 16 points and 21 rebounds in the day's first game, had just nine attempts from the field against Canterbury. While she took advantage of her limited chances going 6 of 9 and finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds, Heeter knew they needed to rely on her more.
"I feel like we didn't get the ball inside enough. We needed to get it to Carly more," said Heeter.
One thing that didn't help Triton's cause was turnovers. The Trojans finished the regional with 49 turnovers, including 22 against Canterbury.
Despite outrebounding the Cavs, Triton's ball handling problems led to easy baskets for the opposition.
Triton's five-point halftime lead was its biggest of the game. After putting a goose egg up in the second quarter, King returned to form scoring 10 points in the quarter. King combined six rebounds and six steals with her game high 30 points to lead Canterbury to the Plymouth semistate. For Triton and Heeter, disappointment was the prevailing emotion.
"It came down to turnovers and we gave it to them too much," said Heeter. "But losing by one-possession hurts. That's what hurts the most."
Heeter however did realize who much this team may have overachieved in the second half of the season.
"We were 6 of 7 at one point this year, so to make it this far, says a lot about this team," said Heeter.
In their first game against South Newtown, the Trojans struggled in the first half with just a 19-17 lead at the break. In a game that was loosely officiated to say the least, Triton overcame pushing and shoving and pulled away in the second half. Thirty-six second-half points compared to just 16 by the Rebels quickly made a close knit contest into a rout.
The Rebels couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for most of the game, going 9 of 46 from the field. South Newton wasn't aided by the fact that it seemed every time they missed Triton got the board. The Trojans dominated the glass with a 52-30 edge making up for their 27 turnovers.
FORT WAYNE CANTERBURY 48, TRITON 45
Triton 13 7 7 18 - 45
FW Canterbury 13 2 17 16 - 48
Triton FG FT A S R Pts.
Stutzman 2-12 1-2 0 1 2 7
Dean 2-3 2-3 1 2 3 6
Meister 5-14 2-2 5 3 6 13
C. Feldman 6-9 2-4 1 0 14 14
K. Feldman 2-5 1-2 0 1 7 5
Heckaman 0-2 0-0 1 1 1 0
Cally Feldman 0-1 0-1 0 0 2 0
Riewaldt 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 17-46 8-14 8 8 35 45
Canterbury FG FT A S R Pts.
King 11-29 7-8 1 6 6 30
Moppert 1-1 0-0 0 1 5 2
Sorg 1-8 0-0 0 2 9 2
Creighton 1-7 1-2 2 4 5 3
Tucker 0-1 0-0 0 1 2 0
Wilson 4-6 3-4 0 0 1 11
Mannes 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Totals 18-53 11-14 3 14 29 48
Three-point goals: Triton 3-14 (Stutzman 2-7, Meister 1-5) Canterbury 1-7 (King 1-4). Turnovers: Triton 22 Canterbury 15. Total Fouls: Triton 16 Canterbury 14. Fouled Out: Dean (Triton) [[In-content Ad]]
CULVER -ÊCulver's gym seems to be a home away from home for the Triton Lady Trojans. And why not it's a nice, sleepy, resort town during the summer. But February can get pretty cold and unfortunately the Trojans felt the chill on Saturday night falling to Fort Wayne Canterbury 48-45 in the 2A regional final.
Triton began the day in a physical contest against South Newton where it prevailed 55-33. In its second game of the day it ran into super freshman Megan King of Canterbury. The state's third leading scorer at 27.6 per game put up with some freshman hazing from the Triton student cheering block with unneeded taunts of "Ball Hog" every time she touched the ball.
Luckily for her and her teammates she is. She finished the game with 30 points after laying 39 on Whiting in their earlier contest. It was her final two of the night that sealed the proverbial deal. After Triton's Holly Heckaman long three-point try went to Canterbury's Adaline Moppert, she found King who leaked out and went the distance for an easy layin. Triton's Carly Feldman answered with a basket of her own and Lindsay Stutzman nailed a three pointer to make it a one possession game at 48-45. However, only three seconds remained and Triton had no timeouts to stop the remaining ticks from going off the board.
The two squads went back and forth all night. Early on it seemed as though Canterbury would be avoiding any sort of dramatics. The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead to start the game. Triton shook off any jitters and jumped right back into it and tied things up at 13-13 after one quarter despite nine points from King in the first. Triton coach Mark Heeter's game plan was to make King shoot it from the outside by dropping her defender down, eliminating the drive. That worked to perfection in the second quarter.
King went cold from the field in the second quarter, 0-of-8-from-the-field cold to be more specific. And as King goes so does Canterbury. Exhibit A, the second quarter in Saturday night's contest. The Cavaliers managed a paltry two points. Unfortunately for Triton they couldn't pull far enough away putting only a seven spot themselves. It did however give the Trojans the 20-15 edge going into the break.
Part of Triton's scoring woes were the lack of involvement by 5-foot-11 senior Carly Feldman. Feldman, who put up 16 points and 21 rebounds in the day's first game, had just nine attempts from the field against Canterbury. While she took advantage of her limited chances going 6 of 9 and finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds, Heeter knew they needed to rely on her more.
"I feel like we didn't get the ball inside enough. We needed to get it to Carly more," said Heeter.
One thing that didn't help Triton's cause was turnovers. The Trojans finished the regional with 49 turnovers, including 22 against Canterbury.
Despite outrebounding the Cavs, Triton's ball handling problems led to easy baskets for the opposition.
Triton's five-point halftime lead was its biggest of the game. After putting a goose egg up in the second quarter, King returned to form scoring 10 points in the quarter. King combined six rebounds and six steals with her game high 30 points to lead Canterbury to the Plymouth semistate. For Triton and Heeter, disappointment was the prevailing emotion.
"It came down to turnovers and we gave it to them too much," said Heeter. "But losing by one-possession hurts. That's what hurts the most."
Heeter however did realize who much this team may have overachieved in the second half of the season.
"We were 6 of 7 at one point this year, so to make it this far, says a lot about this team," said Heeter.
In their first game against South Newtown, the Trojans struggled in the first half with just a 19-17 lead at the break. In a game that was loosely officiated to say the least, Triton overcame pushing and shoving and pulled away in the second half. Thirty-six second-half points compared to just 16 by the Rebels quickly made a close knit contest into a rout.
The Rebels couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for most of the game, going 9 of 46 from the field. South Newton wasn't aided by the fact that it seemed every time they missed Triton got the board. The Trojans dominated the glass with a 52-30 edge making up for their 27 turnovers.
FORT WAYNE CANTERBURY 48, TRITON 45
Triton 13 7 7 18 - 45
FW Canterbury 13 2 17 16 - 48
Triton FG FT A S R Pts.
Stutzman 2-12 1-2 0 1 2 7
Dean 2-3 2-3 1 2 3 6
Meister 5-14 2-2 5 3 6 13
C. Feldman 6-9 2-4 1 0 14 14
K. Feldman 2-5 1-2 0 1 7 5
Heckaman 0-2 0-0 1 1 1 0
Cally Feldman 0-1 0-1 0 0 2 0
Riewaldt 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 17-46 8-14 8 8 35 45
Canterbury FG FT A S R Pts.
King 11-29 7-8 1 6 6 30
Moppert 1-1 0-0 0 1 5 2
Sorg 1-8 0-0 0 2 9 2
Creighton 1-7 1-2 2 4 5 3
Tucker 0-1 0-0 0 1 2 0
Wilson 4-6 3-4 0 0 1 11
Mannes 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Totals 18-53 11-14 3 14 29 48
Three-point goals: Triton 3-14 (Stutzman 2-7, Meister 1-5) Canterbury 1-7 (King 1-4). Turnovers: Triton 22 Canterbury 15. Total Fouls: Triton 16 Canterbury 14. Fouled Out: Dean (Triton) [[In-content Ad]]