MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — By any measure, Friday night’s Trinity girls’ basketball 26-24 home victory over Paden City was certainly not a thing of beauty. Any time two teams combine for 15 points in the first half and total more turnovers (55) than points on the night, the game pretty much qualifies as a less-than-stellar offensive display.
And Trinity coach Mike Baldy will readily admit as much — with a caveat.
“Yeah, it looked an awful lot like middle school basketball out there in long stretches,” he said. “But we have a lot of girls that are making the jump right from middle school to varsity basketball, and we’re just three games in. So we’re definitely in the middle of a steep learning curve right now, but we expect to get much better pretty quickly.”
The first half was turnover-filled and neither team shot the ball often or well. The Warriors (2-1) were very active on defense, forcing a multitude of turnovers, but they were unable to convert those extra possessions into points. The Wildcats (1-2) finished the second quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 10-5 lead into the locker room.
Baldy kept his team inside until just before the second half — eschewing even a quick shoot around — but their energy was definitely cranked up several notches, and it paid off with defensive stops and points in transition. A 6-0 Trinity mini-run gave them the lead back, but Paden City got consecutive fastbreak lay-ins from Abbe Stockpole to regain a slim 16-13 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.
The Warriors couldn’t buy a bucket early, plus they allowed Stackpole to run and rebuild the Paden City advantage to seven with six minutes left, but that’s when Trinity junior Jaclyn Smith took over offensively, starting with a crucial 3-pointer to keep the game close. Smith, who finished with a game-high 16 points, proceeded to pump in 8 straight points to eventually knot the score at 22-22 at the three minute mark. A Katie White foul shot gave Trinity a one-point lead a minute later.
Smith buried one more shot to stretch the advantage to 25-22 with under a minute to play, but she missed a pair of foul shots, and the Wildcats quickly scored to make it 25-24. After another Trinity turnover, Stackpole drove to the basket looking for the lead, but Maggie Mercure defended the paint with a huge shot block with 30 seconds left.
Paden City failed to foul to stop the clock until just 5 seconds remained, and after Smith hit the first of two foul shots, the Wildcats final attempt to tie at the buzzer missed.
“We’re so young,” Baldy said, “and so inexperienced, so we’re bound to have big swings in our efficiency from game to game, and even within games. We consider ourselves to be a work in progress, and there are so many teachable moments we got from this one … To struggle this much on offense and still come out with a [win] I’ll take that any day.”
The Warriors next face Notre Dame on the road Monday at 7 p.m.
Box score
PADEN CITY (1-2)
Tanley McEldowney 4 0-0 8 Abbe Stackpole 5 0-0 10 McKenzie Thomas 2 2-3 6. Totals 11 2-3 24
TRINITY CHRISTIAN (2-1)
Sofia Pancoast 0 0-2 0 Jaclyn Smith 6 3-9 16 Katie White 2 1-2 5 Maggie Mercure 2 1-3 5. Totals 10 5-14 26
Paden City 2 8 6 8 – 24
Trinity Christian 3 2 8 14 – 26
3-pointers: TC 1 (Smith).
Fouled out: PC 1 (Raven Fulks).
