BOURBON - The North Judson girls basketball team had grown accustomed to getting its season started with a win over Triton. On Friday night, that wasn't the case.
The North Judson Lady Bluejays (0-1) defeated the Triton Lady Trojans (1-0) in a season-opener each since 2003. This year, the Lady Trojans turned the tide with a 48-43 home win."It was an all-around team effort," Triton coach Adam Heckaman said.
The entire team was involved, but sophomore Shana Anderson shone the brightest, with 23 points to go with 11 rebounds, seven steals and two blocked shots.
"Shana's going to be a good player for us in the future and now," Heckaman said.
A good chunk of her points came from the free throw line, where she went 11 of 14, but she wasn't the only one coming up big on the freebies. Senior Allison Thacker scored all eight of her points from the charity stripe, as the team went 24 of 34 from the line.
"We feel we have some girls that can be good taking the ball to the basket and are smart about it," Heckaman said. "Before the game, we told them the most aggressive team wins the game most of the time and gets most of the calls."
Being whistled for 26 fouls, the Lady Bluejays couldn't get the same love from the officials, drawing just 18 calls from the referees and shooting 15 free throws.
Despite losing to North Judson nine-straight times, dating back to 2001, the Lady Trojans came out confident and held a 22-18 lead at the half.
After the break, Judson came out looking strong, using an 8-0 run to take a 26-22 lead before Anderson scored her team's first points of the half from the free throw line with 3:42 remaining in the third quarter.
Following Anderson's two free throws, Triton outscored North Judson 10-2 through the end of the quarter, leaving the Lady Bluejays in the same hole they started the quarter in, down four at 32-28.
"North Judson is a good team," Heckaman said. "They're going to get a lot of wins this year. They did a nice job of responding in the second half. We made a run in the first half to get a lead. They stayed close and made a good run in the second half, but our girls did a great job responding."
Last season, the Lady Trojans dropped a couple games they should have won, but after falling behind in the 2010-11 season-opener, the team responded.
"This group, if they get down a little bit like we did, they're going to fight that much harder," Heckaman said. "If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. They're not going to get too upset about it or get shaken. They're going to get right back at it."
The Lady Trojans host Class 1A No. 4 Oregon-Davis tonight, with the junior varsity tipping off at 6:30 p.m.
