A junior varsity match-up doesn’t always accurately predict a varsity match-up between two schools. In the case of the Lawson Cardinals and Trenton Bulldogs, however, it hit the nail on the head. One night after manhandling Trenton’s JV teams in Lawson, the varsity editions of the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs suffered similar fates on Tuesday night at home. Lawson rolled over the Trenton girls, 63-36, then blew past the Trenton boys, 67-47.
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Lady Bulldogs
The Trenton girls weathered an early storm, falling behind 14-8 in the opening quarter, but kept themselves in the contest. With time ticking away in the second quarter, Trenton got back-to-back three-pointers from Megan Sole and Madi Trump to draw within six points of the Lady Cardinals. Lawson would answer with a quick two- and a three-pointer of its own at the buzzer to go into the locker room leading 30-19.
The buzzer-beating three appeared to suck all the energy out of the Lady Bulldogs and Lawson took advantage, opening the second half on a 12-0 run. By the time the third quarter came to a close, Trenton trailed 51-26. There were moments of running clock in the final frame as Lawson’s lead hovered around the 30-point mark and Trenton went on to lose by 27 points.
“In a game like that it just really all boils down to effort and I just didn’t see the girls put their best foot forward tonight,” Lady Bulldogs’ Head Coach Quentin Albrecht said. “I didn’t see the energy, the enthusiasm, the intensity that you need to beat a quality team like Lawson at any point in the ballgame.”
Leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs in the loss was Sole, who tallied eight points. Makaila Capeder and Avery Whitaker each added seven points and Trump scored five. Cassidy Cotton had four points, Scotlin Hurley had three and Chandler Wilson had two. It was the second time in the last three games that the Lady Bulldogs didn’t have a player in double figures.
Bulldogs
Things didn’t run much smoother for the Trenton boys. Lawson jumped out to an early lead and ran up 18 points in the first quarter. Trenton was able to hang around, thanks in large part to Austin Taul, who came off the bench to score eight of the Bulldogs’ 11 opening frame points. The Cardinals closed the half with a 17-9 run, however, putting Trenton in a 15-point hole at the break.
In the third quarter, Trenton roared back outscoring the Cardinals 20-12 to cut the lead to just seven points. As good as the third quarter was for Trenton, the fourth was equally as bad. Lawson took its turn running up 20 points, outscoring Trenton 20-7 in the final frame to seal the 20 point win.
“The main difference between the third and fourth quarters was we just didn’t execute well enough in the fourth,” Bulldogs’ Head Coach Jeremy Austin said. “We played real hard and were able to hit a few shots in the third quarter, but in the fourth we still played hard, but we just weren’t able to hit any of our shots. Our goal at halftime was to cut seven points off the lead in the third quarter and eight off in the fourth quarter and we accomplished half of that. They are an excellent team and we played real well against an excellent team. I’m happy with the way we played, against the toughest competition we have seen this year.”
Leading the way for Trenton was Colby Larson, who scored 18 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists. Taul finished with 11 points and Keegan McGinness had six points and two steals. Trenton also got five points from Wilson Utley, four points and six rebounds from Brennon Vandevender and three points from Chris Kurtz.
With the loss, the Trenton boys fell to 8-10.
Both Trenton teams will return to the court on Thursday night as the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs travel to Milan for action. The girls contest tips off at 6 p.m. and the boys match-up will follow.