LAKEVILLE — The championship game of the 48th Annual TCU Bi-County Tournament at LaVille High School is one the Triton girls basketball team would like to forget. Pitting two of Class 1A’s top 10 teams, the second-ranked Oregon-Davis Lady Bobcats (16-3) had no problem with the 10th-ranked Triton Lady Trojans (13-5), winning 80-36. O-D’s swarming defense forced Triton into six turnovers on its first seven possessions, resulting in a 12-2 deficit with 4:39 remaining in the first. “We came out tonight with a sense of urgency, which is what we talked about,” O-D coach Terry Minix said. “We really wanted to get on them early, because Triton’s a good team. Believe me. I tried to explain to the girls right away, that it’s not going to be this way at sectional time. They better enjoy this now, because they’re a lot better than they played tonight. We just jumped on them early, and, I think, got them down a little, then they just weren’t able to come back. Believe me, I’m scared to death of them come sectional time.” The two could potentially square off again in Class 1A Sectional 51 at Oregon-Davis High School. With their latest win over Triton, the Lady Bobcats have won nine of the last 11 meetings between the two, as O-D got a 65-55 win in Bourbon on Jan. 2. In the win earlier this season, O-D junior Haley Collings had a big night, scoring 13 points and nabbing 19 rebounds, and in the Bi-County title game, she was stellar again, shooting 11 of 12 from the field for 25 points to go with 13 boards. “Since our holiday tourney up at South Bend Washington, she has played unbelievably,” Minix said of the 5-11 Collings. “It makes us a different team, because we dont have just the ‘Big 3’ with (junior) Alicia (McIntosh), (junior) Ashley (Campbell) and (junior) Jessie (Avarone). Now, everybody can't key on those three because we have a girl in Haley Collings that can get every rebound inside and isn't afraid to finish.” Of O-D's ‘Big 3’, Campbell had 22 points, Avarone finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists and McIntosh had a 10-point, five-assist night. With numbers like that, it’s easy to see how the Lady Trojans were overwhelmed. Despite O-D’s fast start, Triton actually fought back, staying relatively close at 41-27 going into the third quarter. However, just like the start of the first half, O-D’s defense smothered Triton at the beginning of the second half, using an 8-0 run to increase the lead to 49-27. Down by 22, the Triton offense slumped, scoring just nine second-half points. “We chipped away at what they did in the beginning, when they jumped out on us right away,” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said. “Then, we gave them the ball and kind of let them expand (the lead) again. Then, in the second half, we couldn’t get shots to fall and instead of picking it up on defense, we slowed down on defense and let them keep going.” The snowball effect became an avalanche, running Triton over. “The message out of this is, thank goodness it wasn't sectional, because there’s not a lot of positives you can pull out of that game,” Heckaman said. “This is one they wanted more than we did and it showed. Hopefully this sinks into the girls and they know they have a lot of work to do to beat that team if we play them again.” The win is O-D’s sixth Bi-County title in seven years, but according to Minix, it’s not Bi-County titles that he uses to define success for his team. “Winning the Bi-County, it’s a great tournament,” he said. “They do a great job and we really enjoy playing in it and really enjoy winning it, but it’s all about (state) tournament time. That’s what everybody remembers.” Triton looks to get the bad taste of the loss out of its mouth Tuesday at Manchester.
