The Trenton High School basketball teams were at home on Thursday night, playing host to Brookfield. Trenton’s girls team hung in against a strong Brookfield squad, but fell by 10 points in the end 52-42. The Trenton boys bucked a two-game losing skid with a 54-35 victory.
Lady Bulldogs
The Trenton girls appeared to be in for a mismatch, taking on a Brookfield team that was 9-1 entering the contest without point guard McKinley Hurley. Trenton gave Brookfield everything it could handle, however, and missed an upset by just 10 points.
Brookfield jumped on Trenton early, grabbing a quick 10-2 lead behind a full-court press. The Lady Bulldogs would begin to figure out the press near the end of the first quarter, however, and cut the lead to 15-9.
“Brookfield is a good team,” Lady Bulldogs’ Head Coach Brian Upton said. “They are tall, athletic and good shooters. We played hard, but had trouble with their full-court pressure for a while. But we adjusted nicely.”
In the second quarter Brookfield pushed their advantage to double digits, leading 25-15 at the break. Trenton kept itself within striking distance all through the second half, but could never get over the hump, falling by the 10-point margin.
“We didn’t play particularly well on defense,” Upton said. “We didn’t rotate fast enough and gave up too many wide open looks, but that is something we can improve on.”
Trenton was paced by Whitley Richman, who scored 21 points to go with nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Lexie Tolson added five points, six assists and four steals and Daryian Otto finished with five points and five rebounds.
Trenton also got three points, three assists and four steals from Tenna Roberts and two points and four rebounds from Ally Ockenfels. Jaylen Neff, Lana Raymo and Ashten Whitaker all scored two points as well.
“Whitley was good on offense,” Upton said. “She had 21 points and made some nice moves and shots around the basket. Lexie had a solid game handling the ball a lot against their pressure. She ended up with only five points, but had six assists and only three turnovers. Daryian was good defensively and has become a real solid player on the defensive end.”
With the loss, Trenton dropped to 7-4 overall on the season.
Bulldogs
The Trenton boys entered their match-up with Brookfield on the heels of two close losses, first to Maryville at Holiday Hoops and then at home against Mid-Buchanan. Those two losses are distant memories now, however, after Trenton handled Brookfield with relative ease.
The Bulldogs led 10-7 after the first quarter but really grabbed command with a 14-8 run in the second period. Leading 24-15, Trenton outscored Brookfield again in the third quarter and then closed the game with an 18-10 run to seal the 19-point victory.
“The boys bounced back and played well,” Bulldogs’ Head Coach Jeremy Austin said. “The intensity was hit and miss there early. It was just a completely different style of basketball than what we have played in the last two games, though. The two games before this were very physical, very aggressive. This game was still aggressive, it just wasn’t as physical. It was called a lot closer than what we got used to in the last two games. We made good plays offensively, though, and our execution has improved tremendously, which has helped our field goal percentage and that has helped everything.”
Trenton was paced by Cree Mullenix, who turned in a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Mullenix also added four assists and two steals. Kail McCarter chipped in with nine points, five rebounds and three assists and Chris Flowers had eight points, seven rebounds and two assists. Trenton also got eight points and two assists from Spencer Harris, six points and six rebounds from Connor Cotton and three points and five assists from Cade Mullenix.
“Cree had a great ballgame for us,” Austin said. “We had a lot of guys who put up pretty significant numbers for us. We had seven people who scored buckets for us and that is pretty balanced scoring in my book.”
With the win, Trenton improved to 6-5 overall on the season.
Both Trenton teams will be back on the court next week, competing in the Lawson Tournament. The sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs will take on third-seeded Gallatin on Monday at 4:30 p.m. and the Trenton boys, seeded fifth, take on four-seed Richmond on Monday at 6 p.m.