The Trenton High School basketball teams were on opposite ends of the spectrum Friday night at home in the THS gym. The Lady Bulldogs wound up on the winning side, defeating Putnam County 49-39, but the Bulldogs suffered a loss to the Midgets, falling 75-64.
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Lady Bulldogs
The Trenton girls never really ran away from Putnam County during their victory, but they outscored the Lady Midgets in each of the first three quarters, building a 10-point advantage heading into the final frame. In the fourth quarter, both teams scored 14 points allowing the Lady Bulldogs to hold on for their second straight win.
“It was a good, close game,” Lady Bulldogs’ Head Coach Quentin Albrecht said. “Putnam is a good team and I think they have won 14 or 15 games this season. The last time we played them we didn’t play very well, at least from our perspective, so we really wanted to come out and establish ourselves early and just develop some consistency.”
Leading the way for Trenton was Avery Whitaker, who had 17 points, and Makaila Capeder, who finished with 11. Scotlin Hurley just missed double figures, scoring nine points in the game.
“All year those three have been very consistent for us,” Albrecht said. “Scotlin averages about 10 points a game, Makaila about 11 and Avery around 12 points a game. When you get some other contributions from some of the other girls and we have everybody on the same page we are a pretty tough team.”
Trenton also got five points from Megan Sole, four from Cassidy Cotton, two from Halie Brewer and one from McKinley Hurley.
The win was the second in a row for the Lady Bulldogs, who improved to 12-9 on the season as a result.
“I think we are getting some momentum at the right time,” Albrecht said. “You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the season. We went through a really rough patch there the last part of January, but we have kind of righted the ship. Our shooting has gotten a lot better and if we continue to shoot like this we will have a chance to win a lot of ballgames.”
Bulldogs
The Trenton boys gave up a lot of shots against Putnam County and, as a result, gave up a lot of points. Putnam County took a slim lead after a highly-offensive first quarter, leading 20-19. The Midgets added 16 points in the second, 17 in the third and closed the game with a 22-point fourth quarter. Trenton simply couldn’t keep up with the high scoring pace and fell by 11 points.
“We gave them way too many shots,” Bulldogs’ Head Coach Jeremy Austin said. “That goes against what our game plan is. Our plan is to control the basketball. We didn’t do that. We let them control the basketball and get too many shots off.”
Colby Larson led the Bulldogs with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Keegan McGinness had 13 points. Austin Norris added 12 points and eight rebounds and Brennon Vandevender had eight points and five rebounds. Chase Tolson had six points and four assists, Chanse Houghton had four points, Austin Taul had three points and Seth Acton had two points. Wilson Utley pulled down five rebounds in the game.
“I thought a lot of our guys had good games,” Austin said. “Colby showed what great players do, which is find a way to score. He went nine-for-nine from the free throw line and had a dozen rebounds. Brennon Vandevender had an exceptional first half in the ballgame. They did a better job of keying in on him in the second half and he wasn’t able to get as many open looks at the basket. Norris shot the lights out in the second half and when he couldn’t get open he just backed up a little bit more and still knocked the shot down. Chase Tolson had a great first quarter and then he got in foul trouble. For a sophomore kid who isn’t used to being in foul trouble that is a big adjustment and, hopefully, this is something he will learn from because fouls get you on the bench faster than just about anything.”
With the loss, Trenton fell to 10-11 on the season.
Both Trenton teams will return to the court on Tuesday facing a tough test with road match-ups at Cameron. Action tips off with the girls game at 6 p.m. and the boys contest will follow.