It was a big night for the Trenton High School girls basketball team on Thursday as the Lady Bulldogs outlasted the St. Joseph LeBlond Lady Eagles, 54-52.
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The THS boys, meanwhile, found themselves outmatched by the Eagles, 67-35.
It was a big night for the Trenton High School girls basketball team on Thursday as the Lady Bulldogs outlasted the St. Joseph LeBlond Lady Eagles, 54-52.
The THS boys, meanwhile, found themselves outmatched by the Eagles, 67-35.
Lady Bulldogs
Senior Casey Beavers turned in a career night as she led the Lady Bulldogs to the two-point victory. Beavers scored a career-best 34 points, including the game-winning shot with three seconds left to play.
?It was the most dominating performance by a player I have ever seen,? Head Coach Quentin Albrecht said. ?In the same breath I would have to say what a great job her teammates did in getting her the ball. They were so unselfish with the basketball. Everyone on the court was thinking of what was best for the team and not themselves. There cannot be a better example of team play.?
The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first quarter. LeBlond countered with their own 11-6 run and ended the first quarter trailing by just three, 17-14. Beavers set the pace early, scoring Trenton?s first six points and ending the opening quarter with 14.
?Last season LeBlond beats us by 26 points at their place and by 19 points in the district finals,? Albrecht said. ?We knew going in we would have to jump on them early and take control of the game.?
In last season?s two losses, the Lady Eagles outscored THS 20-4 in the first quarter of the first game and 8-4 in the first period of the second meeting. The Lady Eagles were also able to hold Beavers to only three points in seven of the eight quarters the two teams played.
?We reminded Casey of what LeBlond was able to do to her last season and we challenged her,? Albrecht said. ?She is a better player than that and I think she proved that tonight.?
The two teams traded the lead five times in the second quarter with LeBlond finishing the half with a one-point lead, 30-29.
The Lady Bulldogs again came out and put together a strong start to the second half. THS outscored the Lady Eagles 8-0 in the first three minutes, then took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter, 46-40.
?Good teams find a way to come back and LeBlond is definitely a good team,? Albrecht said.
The Lady Eagles showed that by connecting on four fourth quarter three-pointers, which allowed them to tie the game at 52-52 with 40 seconds to play. Beavers, however, ended LeBlond?s 9-0 run with a two-point gamewinner with 3.3 seconds to play.
?Faith will take you a long way. As coaches we have a lot faith in these girls and I think the girls have a lot of faith in us as coaches,? Albrecht said. ?In three years we have won 52 games because we believe and we all have faith.?
The win was more than a Beavers? highlight film. The Lady Bulldogs improved to 19-3, which ties Trenton?s all-time single season win total for a girls? team. It also could be act one of the district finals.
The Lady Bulldogs will head into the district tournament at Hamilton as the number one seed while the Lady Eagles earned the second spot during Wednesday night?s district seeding meeting. The game was also Albrecht?s 100th career win, of which 52 have come at Trenton during his three-year run as coach of the Lady Bulldogs. Albrecht said he?s had a lot of help in reaching the 100 mark.
?I?ve just been fortunate enough to have some good players and to be around some good people. That makes winning a lot easier,? he said.
Bulldogs
The THS boys were as cold as the Lady Bulldogs were hot during their meeting with LeBlond.
While neither team could get on track early in the contest, the Eagles began taking over midway in the first period and ran up a 17-6 lead.
?That was a good team we played tonight,? Coach Richard Woods said. ?They forced us into a lot of turnovers and we were unable to convert on the chances that we had. But I liked the way the boys hustled and they played hard during the game.?
The Eagles held Trenton to just five points in the second quarter and took a 38-11 lead at the half. The third quarter saw LeBlond extend its advantage to 35 points, 54-19.
The Bulldogs did stage a rally of sorts in the fourth period, using a combination of its inside and outside games to pull to within 23 points at the 4:10 mark. But it was as close as Trenton would get as the Bulldogs fall to 2-17 on the year.
Eric Hoffman led the THS scoring with 10 points, while Scott Sharp came off the bench to add nine. Trenton hit on 8-of-17 free throws for the night.
LeBlond had two players in double figures, led by John McAndrews with 14. Sean Cortez added 10. The Eagles were 10-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Both the THS teams see action on Tuesday night, traveling to Brookfield for a doubleheader. They will conclude the regular season on Thursday night, hosting South Harrison in winter homecoming activities in the THS gym.