Local Sports, Sports, Trinity Christian

Trinity’s revamped defense on display in 74-46 win over Braxton County

MORGANTOWN – After one game, the secret is out.

No longer will the Trinity Christian girls’ basketball team sit back on defense and force a team to shoot from the outside. This version of the Warriors is ready to run.

Head coach Mike Baldy, in his seventh year, has completely revamped Trinity this season with a ball-hawking full-court press style of defense that leads directly to a fastbreak offense.

“Spoiler alert, we don’t run much halfcourt offense,” Bald said. “It’s going to be run and gun kind of stuff. You will hear me yelling the whole game – get in your lanes, get in your lanes. Really, that is our offense.”

The Warriors return eight players from a season ago when they won the sectional title, and on Tuesday, they hosted Braxton County, which just happens to be the team they beat in last year’s sectional title game.

Trinity walked out with a 74-46 win.

“I think our experience is going to help us down the line,” Baldy said. “You see Olivia (Austin) in the third quarter, and she started to catch fire. We have other players who are less experienced who can catch fire, too.”

Austin scored 11 of her 15 points in the third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers. But it was still the Warriors defense that set the tone.

After trailing the visiting Eagles 17-16 after the first quarter, the Warriors defense held Braxton County scoreless until the 3:42 mark and by that point held a 27-19 lead that they would never relinquish.

“We want the girls in the passing lanes to steal or deflect passes,” Baldy said. “It all comes from the idea that we don’t have a ton of girls that are extremely skilled offensively, but we have some great athletes and some girls that want to just go get the ball – so we are letting them just go get the ball.”

The centerpiece of that defense just might be sophomore Sucora Brown. She was all over the floor during the victory. She finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, six steals and two assists in the contest.

“It gets me excited to force all the steals and get the ball to my teammates and sharing with them,” Brown said. “I love running up and down the court.”

Jenna Barnett added 14 points with three steals for the Warriors (1-0) while Avonna Brown scored 10 points with six steals. Trinity forced 33 turnovers in the contest and Baldy said that’s right where his team needs to be this season in order to have success.

Trinity returns to action on Friday when it hosts Preston for a 7:30 p.m. game. The contest is a “White Out” with the Warriors fans encouraged to wear white and Preston fans encouraged to wear black. The two schools play for a trophy and the game is called the Battle For The Shield. Also, starting this year, the game will serve as a Make-A-Wish fundraiser with all gate proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish foundation.

By ERIC HERTER

Braxton County               17          8            8            13 – 46

Trinity Christian              16          16          21          21 – 74

BC – Bree Smarr 5 0-0 11, Hunt 1 3-5 7, Erica Nicholson 7 1-4 15, Conley 2 0-0 4, Abraham 0 0-1 0, Godfrey 3 0-0 7, Cain 1 0-1 2. Totals: 16 4-11 46.

TC – Jenna Barnett 6 1-3 14, Kisner 1 0-0 2, Lynch 1 1-2 3, Sucora Brown 7 4-6 18, Hyde 2 0-0 4, Olivia Austin 5 3-4 15, Avonna Brown 4 2-2 10, Mercure 3 2-2 8, Fisher 2 0-0 4. Totals: 31 13-18 74.

3-Pointers – BC: Smarr. TC: Austin 2, Barnett.