Despite Turnovers, Lady Trojans Advance To Bi-County Tourney Final
January 24, 2020 at 4:44 a.m.
Despite Turnovers, Lady Trojans Advance To Bi-County Tourney Final
By Anthony Anderson-
Charging back from a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit, Triton advanced to just its second-ever Bi-County Tournament girls basketball title game with a chilling 31-29 victory over the Falcons in Thursday’s second semifinal at LaVille’s Dale Cox Gym.
“It feels great, because these kids, they’ve fought and they’ve earned this,” 12th-year Trojan coach Adam Heckaman said. “They fought throughout this whole game.
“We’re down a kid (with senior Whytnie Miller’s season-ending shoulder injury last week against Winamac), but since she went down, the other kids have stepped up,” Heckaman said. “They’ve battled, and tonight was a prime example of that.”
Triton (10-11), seeking its first-ever Bi-County crown, earned a spot opposite Bremen (14-6) in Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. championship back at LaVille. The Lions, who were 42-16 winners over Argos in Thursday’s first semifinal, were also 45-17 victors over the host Trojans in a Nov. 19 meeting.
Down 21-14 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter against Glenn (8-14), Triton erupted with a 15-3 spree for a 29-23 lead at 2:16 to go.
Junior Seja Lang’s solid-look, right-wing 3-pointer just before the final buzzer for the Falcons was off the mark as the Trojans avenged their 48-40 Nov. 6 loss at Glenn in each team’s season opener.
Lexia Hostrawser scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and made three steals in the rematch for the winners, while fellow junior Abbey Viers netted eight points to go with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Junior Emma Hepler tallied all of her seven points in the fourth quarter, while sophomore Taren Yates came up with five steals to go with six rebounds and five points.
Triton coughed up 20 turnovers in the first half against the Falcons’ hawking defense and 32 for the game — Glenn finished with 22 of its own — but the Trojans also dominated the boards, piling up a 38-17 rebounding advantage.
“We weren’t real good in the first half,” Heckaman said of his team’s play, “but when you have 20 turnovers and are down just 10-8 at halftime, it means you can hang your hat on your defense. We just had to keep working that same way on the defensive end and take care of the ball a little better, and I thought we did in the second half.”
Lang finished with a game-high 12 points for the Falcons. Senior Julianne Wilk was next with seven.
Swarming senior Abby Machinac and Lang combined for 15 of Glenn’s 19 steals, including eight by Machinac.
Triton, though, turned its huge rebounding advantage into an 8-4 edge in second-chance points.
“When we got shots off instead of turning it over, we got more shots off,” Heckaman said. “The kids really crashed the boards, which we needed, and which was encouraging to see.”
The Trojans closed at 10-of-30 from the field with two 3-pointers and 9-of-16 at the line.
The Falcons never converted a trey in 16 attempts and were 10-of-37 from the field overall to go with 7-of-14 at the stripe.
Triton’s only other appearance in a Bi-County final came in 2013 and resulted in an 80-36 loss to a powerhouse Oregon-Davis club that wound up 22-4.
Against Bremen, the Trojans will encounter a team that has won 11 of its last 13, with the only losses coming to NorthWood (19-3) and Elkhart Central (14-5).
“They play some real good zone defense, get in the passing lanes well,” Heckaman said of the Lions. “They have some smart players and kids who can shoot the ball. We’re gonna have to get out on them and we’re gonna have to take better care of the ball.”
Charging back from a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit, Triton advanced to just its second-ever Bi-County Tournament girls basketball title game with a chilling 31-29 victory over the Falcons in Thursday’s second semifinal at LaVille’s Dale Cox Gym.
“It feels great, because these kids, they’ve fought and they’ve earned this,” 12th-year Trojan coach Adam Heckaman said. “They fought throughout this whole game.
“We’re down a kid (with senior Whytnie Miller’s season-ending shoulder injury last week against Winamac), but since she went down, the other kids have stepped up,” Heckaman said. “They’ve battled, and tonight was a prime example of that.”
Triton (10-11), seeking its first-ever Bi-County crown, earned a spot opposite Bremen (14-6) in Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. championship back at LaVille. The Lions, who were 42-16 winners over Argos in Thursday’s first semifinal, were also 45-17 victors over the host Trojans in a Nov. 19 meeting.
Down 21-14 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter against Glenn (8-14), Triton erupted with a 15-3 spree for a 29-23 lead at 2:16 to go.
Junior Seja Lang’s solid-look, right-wing 3-pointer just before the final buzzer for the Falcons was off the mark as the Trojans avenged their 48-40 Nov. 6 loss at Glenn in each team’s season opener.
Lexia Hostrawser scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and made three steals in the rematch for the winners, while fellow junior Abbey Viers netted eight points to go with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Junior Emma Hepler tallied all of her seven points in the fourth quarter, while sophomore Taren Yates came up with five steals to go with six rebounds and five points.
Triton coughed up 20 turnovers in the first half against the Falcons’ hawking defense and 32 for the game — Glenn finished with 22 of its own — but the Trojans also dominated the boards, piling up a 38-17 rebounding advantage.
“We weren’t real good in the first half,” Heckaman said of his team’s play, “but when you have 20 turnovers and are down just 10-8 at halftime, it means you can hang your hat on your defense. We just had to keep working that same way on the defensive end and take care of the ball a little better, and I thought we did in the second half.”
Lang finished with a game-high 12 points for the Falcons. Senior Julianne Wilk was next with seven.
Swarming senior Abby Machinac and Lang combined for 15 of Glenn’s 19 steals, including eight by Machinac.
Triton, though, turned its huge rebounding advantage into an 8-4 edge in second-chance points.
“When we got shots off instead of turning it over, we got more shots off,” Heckaman said. “The kids really crashed the boards, which we needed, and which was encouraging to see.”
The Trojans closed at 10-of-30 from the field with two 3-pointers and 9-of-16 at the line.
The Falcons never converted a trey in 16 attempts and were 10-of-37 from the field overall to go with 7-of-14 at the stripe.
Triton’s only other appearance in a Bi-County final came in 2013 and resulted in an 80-36 loss to a powerhouse Oregon-Davis club that wound up 22-4.
Against Bremen, the Trojans will encounter a team that has won 11 of its last 13, with the only losses coming to NorthWood (19-3) and Elkhart Central (14-5).
“They play some real good zone defense, get in the passing lanes well,” Heckaman said of the Lions. “They have some smart players and kids who can shoot the ball. We’re gonna have to get out on them and we’re gonna have to take better care of the ball.”
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