Lady Trojans Battle, But Drop Title Game To Bremen
January 27, 2020 at 3:18 a.m.
Lady Trojans Battle, But Drop Title Game To Bremen
By Anthony Anderson-
Bremen survived the scare, though, and repeated as titlist with a 31-22 victory over the Trojans at LaVille High School’s Dale Cox Gymnasium.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said afterwards of his players. “They fought and fought and fought. We just came up a couple possessions short.”
With tourney MVP Haylie Rodriguez hitting 3-of-4 on 3-pointers for nine points, and with senior standout Erin Coffel scoring less than half her season average, but still collecting eight points and eight rebounds, the surging Lions (15-6) won for the 14th time in their last 16 outings.
The Trojans (10-12) got nine points from freshman Kinsey Atkins on 3-of-8 outside the arc to go with her team-high three steals.
Coming off a late-charging 31-29 win in Thursday’s semifinals over a Glenn club that had won the teams’ initial meeting 48-40, Triton yet again changed the narrative substantially in a rematch.
The host Trojans had fallen to Bremen 45-17 on Nov. 19.
“I just think they’ve really bought into what they’re doing and Coach Heckaman has a really hard-working group of girls,” Lions coach Alex Robinson said Saturday of why Triton was able to close major ground. “They’ve really bought in on the defensive side and that’s really what they hang their hat on. They really pack it in, and if you’re not knocking down a bunch of jump shots early, it can get into this kind of game.”
Saturday’s was the kind in which both offenses labored against scrappy zone defense, but ultimately the kind the Trojans lost perhaps by virtue of not getting enough shots, that being due to frequently not solving a pressing opponent and coughing up 25 turnovers to just 13 for that opponent.
Triton outshot its opposition from the field in all three of its Bi-County games — 37.3% to 26.4% overall, and by at least 6.2% in each outing — but also finished the week with 76 turnovers to 54 by the opposition.
“She (would’ve) helped a lot,” Heckaman admitted of not having injured Whytnie Miller, the steadying 5-foot-8 senior who suffered a season-ending shoulder dislocation on Jan. 14. “She’s a tall guard, so she could see through some things, see over some things. We’re struggling a little bit in that way, being short a guard, but they’re learning.”
The coach said there were occasions Saturday in which his team did break the pressure, only to not cash in.
“We had opportunities for layups and didn’t make those,” Heckaman said. “I can think of three off the press that we got that we didn’t put in.”
The Trojans led 9-5 after one quarter, but Bremen rallied for a 12-11 lead at the half.
Triton went up for the final time, 13-12, to start the third quarter, but the Lions netted the next six points to go ahead for good.
The Trojans closed to 22-18 on Lexia Hostrawser’s bucket to start the fourth quarter, and trailed just 25-20 with 4:05 to go, but the Lions ruled down the stretch.
“They really caused us a lot of fits,” Robinson said of Triton, “but I think it’s a testament to our girls that they were able to fight through it. … This has been a resilient group all year. Having a lot of these girls for three years now, I really know what we can expect from them, and that really helps the nerves on the sidelines in a game like this.”
Bremen shot 19 free throws, making 12, while the Trojans attempted just two.
Heckaman nodded affirmatively to whether that was just the nature of the game.
“They played hard and they went to the basket,” the Triton coach said. “We played hard, but I guess we didn’t go to the basket hard enough.”
The Trojans were appearing in a Bi-County girls final for just the second time, the other occasion being a 2013 loss to Oregon-Davis. The Lions upped their record title count to 13 over the 44 years of the event on the girls side.
Triton closes its regular season Friday at North Judson (17-4), before heading to the Class 1A Culver Sectional where they will face Argos on Feb. 4.
BREMEN 31, TRITON 22
B 5 7 10 9 — 31
T 9 2 5 6 — 22
Bremen — Dellenira Duran 2-8 0-2 4, Erin Coffel 1-7 6-7 8, Ella Foster 1-8 2-4 4, Bailey Vermillion 0-3 4-6 6, Haylie Rodriguez 3-4 0-0 9, Katie Moyer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 8-31 12-19 31.
Triton — Abbey Viers 2-3 0-0 4, Lexia Hostrawser 1-3 0-0 2, Jaelyn Bules 0-0 0-0 0, Kinsey Atkins 3-9 0-0 9, Taren Yates 1-2 0-0 2, Emma Hepler 1-5 2-2 5, Jessica Soriano 0-1 0-0 0, Alyxa Viers 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 8-25 2-2 22.
Three-pointers — Bremen 3-16 (Rodriguez 3-4), Triton 4-12 (Atkins 3-8, Hepler 1-4). Rebounds — Bremen 23 (Coffel 8, Duran 6), Triton 23 (Hostrawser 4, Atkins 4). Assists — Bremen 7 (Coffel 3), Triton 8 (Abbey Viers, Bules, Hepler, Soriano 2 each). Steals — Bremen 11 (Foster 5), Triton 6 (Atkins 3). Turnovers — Bremen 13, Triton 25. Fouls — Bremen 10, Triton 14. Fouled out – none. Records – Bremen 15-6, Triton 10-12.
Bremen survived the scare, though, and repeated as titlist with a 31-22 victory over the Trojans at LaVille High School’s Dale Cox Gymnasium.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said afterwards of his players. “They fought and fought and fought. We just came up a couple possessions short.”
With tourney MVP Haylie Rodriguez hitting 3-of-4 on 3-pointers for nine points, and with senior standout Erin Coffel scoring less than half her season average, but still collecting eight points and eight rebounds, the surging Lions (15-6) won for the 14th time in their last 16 outings.
The Trojans (10-12) got nine points from freshman Kinsey Atkins on 3-of-8 outside the arc to go with her team-high three steals.
Coming off a late-charging 31-29 win in Thursday’s semifinals over a Glenn club that had won the teams’ initial meeting 48-40, Triton yet again changed the narrative substantially in a rematch.
The host Trojans had fallen to Bremen 45-17 on Nov. 19.
“I just think they’ve really bought into what they’re doing and Coach Heckaman has a really hard-working group of girls,” Lions coach Alex Robinson said Saturday of why Triton was able to close major ground. “They’ve really bought in on the defensive side and that’s really what they hang their hat on. They really pack it in, and if you’re not knocking down a bunch of jump shots early, it can get into this kind of game.”
Saturday’s was the kind in which both offenses labored against scrappy zone defense, but ultimately the kind the Trojans lost perhaps by virtue of not getting enough shots, that being due to frequently not solving a pressing opponent and coughing up 25 turnovers to just 13 for that opponent.
Triton outshot its opposition from the field in all three of its Bi-County games — 37.3% to 26.4% overall, and by at least 6.2% in each outing — but also finished the week with 76 turnovers to 54 by the opposition.
“She (would’ve) helped a lot,” Heckaman admitted of not having injured Whytnie Miller, the steadying 5-foot-8 senior who suffered a season-ending shoulder dislocation on Jan. 14. “She’s a tall guard, so she could see through some things, see over some things. We’re struggling a little bit in that way, being short a guard, but they’re learning.”
The coach said there were occasions Saturday in which his team did break the pressure, only to not cash in.
“We had opportunities for layups and didn’t make those,” Heckaman said. “I can think of three off the press that we got that we didn’t put in.”
The Trojans led 9-5 after one quarter, but Bremen rallied for a 12-11 lead at the half.
Triton went up for the final time, 13-12, to start the third quarter, but the Lions netted the next six points to go ahead for good.
The Trojans closed to 22-18 on Lexia Hostrawser’s bucket to start the fourth quarter, and trailed just 25-20 with 4:05 to go, but the Lions ruled down the stretch.
“They really caused us a lot of fits,” Robinson said of Triton, “but I think it’s a testament to our girls that they were able to fight through it. … This has been a resilient group all year. Having a lot of these girls for three years now, I really know what we can expect from them, and that really helps the nerves on the sidelines in a game like this.”
Bremen shot 19 free throws, making 12, while the Trojans attempted just two.
Heckaman nodded affirmatively to whether that was just the nature of the game.
“They played hard and they went to the basket,” the Triton coach said. “We played hard, but I guess we didn’t go to the basket hard enough.”
The Trojans were appearing in a Bi-County girls final for just the second time, the other occasion being a 2013 loss to Oregon-Davis. The Lions upped their record title count to 13 over the 44 years of the event on the girls side.
Triton closes its regular season Friday at North Judson (17-4), before heading to the Class 1A Culver Sectional where they will face Argos on Feb. 4.
BREMEN 31, TRITON 22
B 5 7 10 9 — 31
T 9 2 5 6 — 22
Bremen — Dellenira Duran 2-8 0-2 4, Erin Coffel 1-7 6-7 8, Ella Foster 1-8 2-4 4, Bailey Vermillion 0-3 4-6 6, Haylie Rodriguez 3-4 0-0 9, Katie Moyer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 8-31 12-19 31.
Triton — Abbey Viers 2-3 0-0 4, Lexia Hostrawser 1-3 0-0 2, Jaelyn Bules 0-0 0-0 0, Kinsey Atkins 3-9 0-0 9, Taren Yates 1-2 0-0 2, Emma Hepler 1-5 2-2 5, Jessica Soriano 0-1 0-0 0, Alyxa Viers 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 8-25 2-2 22.
Three-pointers — Bremen 3-16 (Rodriguez 3-4), Triton 4-12 (Atkins 3-8, Hepler 1-4). Rebounds — Bremen 23 (Coffel 8, Duran 6), Triton 23 (Hostrawser 4, Atkins 4). Assists — Bremen 7 (Coffel 3), Triton 8 (Abbey Viers, Bules, Hepler, Soriano 2 each). Steals — Bremen 11 (Foster 5), Triton 6 (Atkins 3). Turnovers — Bremen 13, Triton 25. Fouls — Bremen 10, Triton 14. Fouled out – none. Records – Bremen 15-6, Triton 10-12.
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