The Trenton High School basketball teams were unable to pull off upsets against the potential number one seeds in the upcoming district tournaments on Tuesday night. Cameron defended its home floor with a 56-33 win over the Lady Bulldogs in the girls game and a 58-32 win over the Bulldogs in the boys contest.
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Lady Bulldogs
The Trenton girls were in trouble from the opening tip as Cameron raced out to a 13-3 first quarter lead. Turnovers bit the Lady Bulldogs hard and kept them from scoring. By halftime Cameron’s lead had increased to 32-9.
“A lot of the trouble we had tonight was really a result of our own inconsistencies,” Lady Bulldogs’ Head Coach Quentin Albrecht said. “We came out and we turned the ball over quite a bit in the first quarter and that kind of set the tone for the first half.”
Trenton regrouped in the locker room at halftime and came out playing much better basketball. The Lady Bulldogs reeled off eight unanswered points, but a technical foul on Trenton swung the momentum back to Cameron. The Lady Dragons closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run. Cameron continued to protect its lead in the final frame and Trenton only shaved a single digit off the deficit, falling by 23 points.
“At halftime we came in and talked and came out in the third quarter and really played well,” Albrecht said. “We scored the first eight points and got the lead back down to 13 or 14 points and played them evenly really the rest of the game. Once again we were just plagued by inconsistency. Cameron is a good team and I give them credit, but at the same time if we take care of our business, then I really think we have a ballgame.”
Scotlin Hurley was the only Lady Bulldog to reach double figures, finishing with 13 points. Avery Whitaker scored six points, all of which came in the third quarter and Maddie Hooyman had five. Cassidy Cotton scored four points, Megan Derry and Halie Brewer each scored two and Makaila Capeder rounded out the Trenton scoring with one.
With the loss, Trenton’s record on the season fell to 12-10.
Bulldogs
The Trenton boys suffered a similar fate as Cameron jumped out to a 14-5 first quarter lead. Trenton had its biggest offensive quarter in the second period, scoring 13 points, but still fell further behind as Cameron took a 32-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, scoring issues continued to plague Trenton, which scored just eight points in the third quarter and six in the fourth to fall by 26 points. Due to an early-out on Monday on the heels of a weekend, Trenton hadn’t been in the gym since last Friday.
“Three days off is too many,” Bulldogs’ Head Coach Jeremy Austin said. “It’s just unforseen circumstances, it’s not really anyone’s fault and you can’t really do anything about it. The weather came in, though, and it really hit us at a bad time. It kept us from being able to get in the gym and practice and we looked like a typical Monday practice. It’s just usually in a Monday practice we are going against our junior varsity and not the probable number one team in the district.”
Trenton was led by Colby Larson, who scored seven points, and Keegan McGinness and Austin Norris, each of whom scored six points. Wilson Utley added five points, Austin Taul had three, Chris Kurtz and Chase Tolson each had two and Brennon Vandevender finished with one.
“We didn’t play terrible,” Austin said. “It wasn’t a pathetic attempt on our part, we just made too many mistakes and we had a hard time scoring. Offensively we executed, we just didn’t show very much patience and we didn’t hit a lot of shots that we normally hit. That’s probably a direct result of the kids not being able to get into the gym and shoot for three days.”
The loss dropped the Bulldogs’ record to 10-12 on the season.
Trenton’s teams will look to rebound on Thursday as they face off with East Buchanan at home in Trenton. Action begins with the girls game at 6 p.m. and the boys will follow.