MORGANTOWN — The Trinity Christian girls’ basketball team fell to the visiting Frankfort Falcons in a Class AA Region II co-final 44-41 on Tuesday evening high on the hill in Sabraton.
An eight-point TC halftime lead of 22-14 was erased and overtaken in a game-changing third frame in which FHS (13-12) exploded for more points than they scored in the entire first half, outscoring the Warriors (14-11) 20-7 and taking a five-point lead into the fourth.
Halftime adjustments made by the Falcons seemed to work well as the tempo of the game flipped from the favor of the Warriors to the Falcons between halves.
“Anytime a season ends in a semi-positive light when you play really hard it’s hard, but there’s some positivity in the locker room right now,” Trinity coach Mike Baldy said after the game. “There was one turning point in the game, and it was the high-trapping 1-3-1 defense they went to in the second half. We didn’t figure out an answer for it until about five minutes into the third.”
The Falcons switched their defense from a standard 2-3 zone in the first half to an extended 1-3-1 zone that picked up the TC ball-handlers at halfcourt. This caused multiple turnovers by Trinity that lead to fastbreak opportunities for the visitors. In just the opening two minutes of the third, the Falcons enjoyed a 10-0 run, nearly doubling their entire first-half score.
“Coming out to start the second half, we knew they would adjust to the defense we were throwing at them,” Baldy said. “So we threw half-court man at them but they went on that 8-0 run with some transition buckets. Eventually, we tried to press and get some quick buckets, which we did. Maybe if we press from the start that’s a more effective defense. Credit to Frankfort, they are a great team.”
Seven players scored for FHS, three in double-figures. Arin Lease led Frankfort with 12 points, Larae Grove added 10 and Avery Noel scored 11.
Lynsey Zimmerman extended the Frankfort lead to four with a layup with less than a minute to play. Trailing 42-38 and with time running down, Trinity’s Kaylee Wimer hit her first of six attempted threes on the night, cutting the lead to one with 15 seconds to go.
The Falcons quickly threw the ball inbounds and found a streaking Lease who ran down the floor and scored to stretch the lead to 44-41, which held as the final score.
Jenna Barnett led the Warriors with a game-high 17 points, supported by Brown’s 16.
Frankfort 44, Trinity 41
FHS 10 4 20 10 – 44
TCS 15 7 7 12 – 41
Frankfort – Zimmerman 1 2-4 5; Grove 3 3-4 10; Lease 5 2-4 12; Noel 5 1-2 11; Alt 1 0-0 2; Ruble 1 0-2 2; Scott 1 0-0 2
Trinity – Barnett 6 3-3 17; Brown 7 2-2 16; Wimer 1 0-0 3; Lynch 1 0-0 2; Fisher 1 1-2 3
3pt goals – Trinity 3 (Barnett 2, Wimer 1); Frankfort 2 (Zimmerman 1, Grove 1).
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