MORGANTOWN – The creator of the phrase “offense wins games, defense wins championships” may have altered their words after watching the Trinity Christian girls’ basketball team against Valley on Monday night.
The Warriors held the visiting Lumberjills to single digits in three of the four quarters on their way to a 42-30 victory in the debut of Chad Williams as head coach.
Three players scored double-figures for TCS, led by sophomore Marlo Flecker with 13. Seniors Kate Williams and Kaylin Kurilko each added 10.
“We knew defense would be what we could hang our hat on,” Williams said. “And not only in this game but all season. Defense is what will win us games. I’m pleased with the defensive effort tonight, and hopefully, going forward, our offense can match the defensive effort because we didn’t make a ton of shots tonight.”
Trinity Christian outshot Valley 77-41 in the contest but only made 17 shots, including only 2 of 25 shots from three-point range.
But the defensive effort is what kept the Warriors ahead the entire game. Coach Williams says mixing up the defensive look throughout the game helped disrupt the rhythm of the Lumberjills.
“We threw a couple different looks at them with our zone and man defense,” he said. “We know shooting isn’t our most significant strength but that we can make up for that in defense. Our man defense was great tonight. Kate did a great job on Laken (Dawson) when they matched up and the team gave great effort.”
Dawson led Valley with a game-high 25 points but the Lumberjills could not find another contributor to their offense as the senior scored all but five of their 30 points.
TCS took a 25-13 lead into the locker room at halftime, but Dawson opened the second half strong for the visitors, who outscored the Warriors 12-6 in the third.
Trinity Christian’s offense stalled, but the defense held again as Valley couldn’t get within six points at 31-25.
The Warriors only allowed five points in the fourth quarter on their way to a 12-point victory.
“Every game is important and we want to take it one at a time,” Williams said. “Everyone played a role tonight and I think if we continue to grow in our roles we can get to where we want to be.”
BOX SCORE
Valley 7 6 12 5 – 30
Trinity Christian 10 15 6 11 – 42
Valley – Dawson 8 6-8 25 Dallison 0 3-8 3 Pittman 1 0-0 2
Trinity Christian – Flecker 5 3-4 13 4 Kurilko 4 0-0 10 Williams 4 2-2 10 Conn 3 0-0 6 Deel 1 1-2 3
3pt goals made – Valley 3 (Dawson 3); Trinity 2 (Kurilko 2)
