MORGANTOWN – Trinity Christian’s girls’ basketball knew exactly who was coming on Friday high up on the hill in Sabraton.
The Warriors just couldn’t stop her.
Notre Dame brought its 4-1 record into the contest and left with a 45-22 victory thanks to senior Selena Wilson and her unique skill set.
Wilson, who stands nearly 6-foot-0, finished with a game-high 15 points. She also grabbed 12 rebounds and added four assists as she readily moved from receiving the ball in the post to bringing the ball up the court.
“We were prepared for her,” Trinity coach Chad Williams said. “I thought we held her pretty good until we went to a zone defense. Then she hit a couple of threes, and we had to go back to man-to-man.”
Wilson scored 12 of her points in the decisive third quarter as the Fighting Irish pushed its slim 18-14 halftime lead to 36-16 after the third period.
“She really hasn’t even scratched the surface of her potential,” Notre Dame head coach, and Selena’s mother, Kahli Wilson said. “She probably missed 10 layups today, which is not in her nature. She is usually 50 or 60 percent from the field but she was rushing a little bit tonight.”
The Warriors (1-2) scored the first point of the game on a free throw but then never led the rest of the game as the Fighting Irish built a 17-6 lead after one quarter. Trinity was able to get back in the game in the second quarter when Kaylin Kurilko scored five of her team-high seven points and helped the Warriors go on a 7-0 run to close the gap at halftime to 18-14.
Notre Dame (5-1), ranked No. 8 in the preseason Class A poll, then went to work in the third quarter as a hustling defense forced Trinity into five turnovers. The Warriors finished with 23 turnovers in the game as the Fighting Irish were constantly in the passing lanes.
“We are definitely a defensive minded team,” coach Wilson said. “Even so, we have a lot of new girls so we are learning how to work together and learning how I want them to play together.”
Trinity struggled from the field as it hit just eight field goals of the 49 it put up for a 16.3 percent performance. The Warriors also hit just two of the 15 3-pointers they hoisted.
“We just couldn’t shoot tonight at all,” Williams said. “I’m not sure their defense really had anything to do with that. We just struggled. I give them credit, they played well, but we didn’t shoot well.”
Aadylyn Murray added 12 points for the Fighting Irish who return to action on Dec. 30 when they travel to South Harrison.
Trinity is back in action on Jan. 4 when it travels to Preston.
“We are still young and still learning how to play together,” Williams said. “But we will get it going. In the locker room, we only talked about what we did right instead of what went wrong. We’ll fix what we did wrong in practice.”
Story By Eric Herter
BOX SCORE
Notre Dame 45, Trinity 22
ND 17 1 18 9 – 45
TCS 6 8 2 6 – 22
Notre Dame (5-1) – Payton 1 1-1 4 Murray 5 1-2 12 Fryer 1 0-0 2 Wilson 4 4-6 15 Policano 0 0-2 0 Garnek 2 0-0 4 Besten 4 0-0 8
Trinity Christian (1-2) – Deal 1 1-2 4 K. Williams 1 1-2 3 T. Williams 1 0-0 2 Kurilko 2 2-2 7 Flecker 3 0-0 6
3pt goals made: Notre Dame 5 (Wilson 3 Payton 1 Murray 1); Trinity Christian 2 (Deal 1 Kurilko 1)
