Trenton Teams Head In Opposite Directions

The Trenton High School basketball teams headed in opposite directions Tuesday night as the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs opened play in the Hamilton Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs headed to the consolation semifinals after a 51-44 loss to East Buchanan, but the Trenton boys scored a 58-56 victory over Braymer on a last-second shot to advance to the championship side of the bracket.
Lady Bulldogs
The Trenton girls trailed 13-11 after a quarter of play, but surged ahead in the second and went into the locker room at halftime leading 27-22. The momentum wouldn’t last, however, as East Buchanan re-took the lead in the third quarter, going up 41-32 entering the final frame. Trenton made a run, but couldn’t get the win, falling by seven points in the end.
“We played well in the first half and the fourth quarter,” Lady Bulldogs’ Head Coach Brian Upton said. “The third quarter was rough. We had about a five minute stretch where we didn’t get a decent shot off and had several turnovers in a row. I thought we did better handling the full and half-court trapping pressure. I was proud of how we didn’t give up, even when we got down by double digits. We fought back and got the game closer, but they did a good job of hitting their free throws down the stretch.”
Trenton was led by Whitley Richman, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Daryian Otto added nine points, 10 rebounds and three assists and Lexie Tolson had eight points and four assists. Ally Ockenfels finished with six points, Asthen Whitaker had four points and four rebounds and Jaylen Neff picked up three steals.
With the loss, Trenton fell to 8-9 on the season. The Lady Bulldogs will now face Polo tonight in the consolation semifinals. Tip off is set for 7:30.
Bulldogs
The Trenton boys picked up a dramatic victory, winning by two points on a last-second shot by Chris Flowers.
In a game that was back-and-forth the whole way through, Trenton fell behind 13-12 in the first quarter and was still behind by one point at halftime and after the third quarter. Trenton closed the game with a 15-12 run, capped by Flowers’ game winning shot.
“We had the ball with 48 seconds to go,” Bulldogs’ Head Coach Jeremy Austin said. “We ran the spread offense well until about 10 seconds left and started the play. Cree (Mullenix) took it to the rim and drew a double team. He dished to Flowers for the win.”
Trenton was paced by Cree Mullenix, who had 17 points, three assists and two steals. Flowers added eight points and six rebounds and Brice Dillon had eight points as well. Trenton got seven points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals from Kail McCarter and seven points from Connor Cotton. Cade Mullenix added five points, six rebounds and three assists and Spencer Harris, Aaron Anderson and Colton Neff all had two points each with Harris adding two assists and two steals.
“We had great games by Kail and Cree,” Austin said. “Brice made a big impact with his time by hitting shots and making hustle plays for us. Cade and Chris both were aggressive on the boards. It’s nice to beat a good team.”
The win avenged a loss to Braymer earlier in the season for Trenton. Braymer topped the Bulldogs in the Gallatin Tournament semifinals in early December.
Trenton now stands at 8-9 on the season following the victory and will play in the Hamilton Tournament semifinals on Thursday against top-seeded East Buchanan. Action tips off at 6 p.m.