BOURBON – The Triton girls basketball team is in territory it hasn't been in since the 2002-03 season. With a dominating 66-41 home win over the South Central Lady Satellites (0-3) Friday night, the Lady Trojans improved their season record to 4-0. At the start of the season, Class 1A Triton got a 54-46 win at 2A North Judson, followed by a home victory over Argos, then its first conquest of 3A Plymouth since the 2002-03 season. "Looking at the first four games, I knew we could play with the teams, but with us being as young as we are, I wasn't sure how we'd respond in some close situations," Triton coach Adam Heckaman said. "We've really stepped up. North Judson and Plymouth were big wins for us." Making Triton's fast start even more impressive is the fact it starts two sophomores, with three freshmen seeing significant minutes off the bench. Among those freshmen, Kylie Mason scored 13 points to go with three rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots against South Central, while her twin sister Kaelyn Mason had eight points, two rebounds and two steals. Classmate Krystal Sellers did well too, scoring four points, while also recording seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. "The three freshmen that are playing a lot of varsity minutes — they've played a lot of minutes in terms of summer league and things like that," Heckaman said. "They've been on the floor a lot. I know varsity is a little bit different, but they haven't had any problems stepping right in." While the freshmen were doing their thing, senior Megan Howdeshell had nine points and four rebounds and junior Shana Anderson posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while also getting five assists and three steals. "Teams know who Megan and Shana are, so they kind of key on those two, but we have other kids who can step up and knock shots down," Heckaman said. "That just allows Megan and Shana to do a little bit more, because it frees them up." Displaying the balance of the squad, sophomore Taylor Hatfield had 10 points and three steals, as five girls scored at least eight points in the win. The 66 points were the most for Triton this season, and that was with the Lady Trojans slowing things down in the fourth quarter, taking just eight shots and scoring nine points. Through four games, the Triton offense is averaging 53 points per game, and its the kind of uptempo game Heckaman has been looking for since he took over three years ago. "We were able to get up and down the floor a little more last year than we had in previous years," he said. "This group can get up and down, and they can shoot. That's really been a bonus, because we can put anyone out there and they've all got the green light to shoot it." One problem the Lady Trojans ran into against South Central was the size of Lady Satellites sophomore Jill Rosenbaum. With only Howdeshell big enough to match up against her, Rosenbaum had her way, scoring 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and hauling in 16 rebounds. "She's a good player," Heckaman said. "We talked about it with the girls, that they kind of come and go with her. We said, 'She's going to score a bulk of the points. We just need to key in on forcing some turnovers and getting a lead.' I know she was able to get going, but we forced the tempo enough that they struggled to handle the ball at that speed." With Rosenbaum scoring 14 of their first 20 points, the Lady Satellites were within 20-19 with 4:55 left in the first half. However, the Lady Trojans took off with a 35-12 run that lasted late into the third quarter with Triton taking a 55-31 lead. "We were turning it over a lot and giving up a lot of offensive rebounds," Heckaman said. "Then, we settled in and played our uptempo game. We settled our minds down a little bit and did what we needed to do." Triton will look to continue its hot start Nov. 28 at home against Bethany Christian.
