The Trenton High School boys and girls basketball teams picked a pair of wins at Lathrop on Tuesday night. The girls improved to 7-4 by beating Lathrop, 44-28. The boys hung on to beat Lathrop, 52-44.
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The Trenton High School boys and girls basketball teams picked a pair of wins at Lathrop on Tuesday night. The girls improved to 7-4 by beating Lathrop, 44-28. The boys hung on to beat Lathrop, 52-44.
THS Girls
The Lady Bulldogs got off to a slow start as Lathrop outscored Trenton in the opening quarter of play, 10-5. The two teams played even in the second quarter and at halftime Lathrop led, 21-16.
“We missed a lot of shots in the first quarter. We went 2-of-15 and had some turnovers,” Head Coach Kris Ockenfels said. “In the second quarter I thought we played better.”
THS blew the game open in the third quarter as the Lady Bulldogs outscored Lathrop, 16-2. At halftime Trenton committed to putting more pressure on the Lady Mules guards and that paid off in the second half.
“We came out and probably played our best quarter of the year in the third (quarter),” Ockenfels said. “At halftime we decided to put more pressure on their guards to make the pass into their post player harder and I thought that helped out a lot.”
Lathrop’s Jill Palan scored eight points in the first half, but thanks in large part to additional guard pressure and a good performance by Aimee Gutshall, Palan was held scoreless in the second half.
“Aimee did a great job of stepping in for an injured Whitney Hanes,” Ockenfels said. “She guarded Palan all night and still managed to score 11 points.”
Trenton outscored Lathrop 28-8 in the second half and ran a way with the game.
Brittany Lynch scored 12 points to lead THS and Ashten Witten added nine points.
The Lady Bulldogs will be back in action on Monday at Macon.
THS Boys
Each week the THS boys appear to be making improvements despite their four-game losing streak. The Bulldogs saw a payoff on their steady improvement on Tuesday night as they defeated Lathrop by seven points.
“This was another step in the right direction,” Head Coach Greg Buescher said. “There is no way of knowing, right now, if this will be the game that gets our season turned around, but six months from now we could point to this game as the one that really got our program going.”
THS and Lathrop we tied at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. The Mules held a slim two-point lead at halftime, 29-27. Trenton regained the lead in the third period and went into the fourth quarter leading, 38-35.
“In the fourth quarter we made just enough free thows and forced Lathrop into just enough mistakes to win the game,” Buescher said.
With just under two minutes to play, the two teams were tied, 39-39, when Derek Miller hit a three-pointer to put Trenton up, 42-39. After a Lathrop turnover, Derek Thorne made a free throw that pushed Trenton’s lead to 43-39.
Lathrop cut the lead back down two points before Josh Lisle hit a pair of free throws to make the score 45-40. Again the Mules cut Trenton’s lead to three, 45-42.
The Bulldogs had two sophomores step up a make key plays in the final 45 seconds of the game. Andie Vandevender grabbed a key rebound off a missed free throw and was fouled. He made 1-of-2 shots, pushing Trenton’s lead to 50-45. Kyle Hoyt forced a turnover and also brought down a key rebound to help put the game away.
“I thought Andie and Kyle both came up with big plays late in the game to help us win,” Buescher said. “Josh also made a pair of free throws and our defense really helped settled us down.”
“In final minute our offense was really beginning to break down, so we decided to focus on our defense,” Buescher said. “In the huddle we talked about gambling and trying to get a steal, which is not something I typically like to do with a lead. But I felt like it paid off by taking some of the pressure off our offense.”
Miller carried the Bulldogs on offense, scoring 28 points, including 14 points in the second quarter. Miller was the only Bulldog to score in double figures.
“Derek is really finding his game. He is learning where his shots will be coming from and he is getting to those spots and calling for the ball,” Buescher said.
The win ends a four-game slide for the Bulldogs and improves their record to 4-7. THS will travel to Macon on Monday.