MORGANTOWN — The Trinity Christian girls’ basketball team secured the Class AA Region II, Section 2 championship with a 51-21 victory on Friday night high on the hill in Sabraton.
Junior Jenna Barnett scored 25 points on the night and the Warriors (14-10) held the Eagles to just eight total field goals. Another poor shooting night from three-point land for TCS (2-16) was supported by 17 made baskets inside the arc, including eight from Barnett alone.
Head coach Mike Baldy and his team set the tempo of the game early on and applied pressure to the offense of Braxton, resulting in turnovers and fastbreak opportunities, the same success seen in the sectional opener against Notre Dame.
“We want to set the tone early, that’s a big reason for pressing early,” Baldy said. “The struggle has now become the zone offense, we are going to spend some time in the next few days. Passing needs to improve, we turned it over from the wing, high post, everywhere.”
TCS held a 13-point advantage after the first quarter, 17-4. The Eagles struggled to even get a shot in the air, through the first 4:38 of the game, they hadn’t registered an attempt.
Although turnovers were happening, TCS had some good passing plays that resulted in quality looks close to the basket. Barnett not only scored, but distributed as well. Junior SuCora Brown and sophomore Abigail Fisher each added four made baskets of their own and every starter for the Warriors scored.
“I think every game we want to set the tone early, in the first few minutes,” Barnett said. “We want to let the other team know we are here to win. I think in practice we will need to clean up the simple stuff like fundamentals and that will help us execute better on offense.”
The Eagles found better offense in the third frame, but still trailed 39-18 entering the fourth. Unable to carry over the momentum from the third, Braxton managed just three points in the final quarter.
On the other side of Region II in Class AA, Petersburg defeated Frankfort 45-41, meaning Trinity will host a rematch of last year’s regional co-final, which was won by Frankfort in Morgantown.
That game will be Tuesday, February 28th at 7 p.m. at Trinity in Sabraton.
Trinity 51, Braxton 21
TCS 17 12 10 12 – 51
BCHS 4 5 9 3 – 21
Trinity – Barnett 9 6-10 25; Lynch 1 0-0 2; Wimer 1 2-2 5; Brown 4 2-4 10; Fisher 4 1-2 9
Braxton – Nicholson 1 0-0 3; Lunceford 0 2-4 2; Smarr 1 0-0 3; Conley 1 1-2 3; Cain 1 0-0 2; Pritt 2 0-0 4; Pritt 1 0-3 2; Fitzwater 1 0-2 2
3pt goals – Trinity 2 (Barnett 1, Wimer 1); Braxton 2 (Nicholson 1, Smarr 1).
TWEET – @ahhh_griff
