FINAL COUNTDOWN

THS Girls Win, Boys Narrowly Miss Big Upset

The Trenton High School basketball teams closed out the regular season Thursday night, playing host to Hamilton on senior night in Trenton. The Lady Bulldogs went out with a 61-43 victory over the Lady Hornets while the Trenton boys just missed an upset of a Hamilton team that only has two losses on the season.
Lady Bulldogs
The Trenton Lady Bulldogs match-up with Hamilton opened with senior Ally Ockenfels, sidelined for the rest of the season with a knee injury, getting a ceremonial bucket to close out her playing career. Following that two, Trenton was met with quite a bit more resistance. Hamilton stuck right with Trenton, trailing just 16-13 after the opening quarter of play. The Lady Bulldogs were able to put a little breathing room between themselves and the Lady Hornets in the second quarter and took a 30-20 lead into halftime. In the second half, Trenton continued to build on the advantage, stretching the lead to 14 points in the third quarter and then 18 by game’s end.
“Senior night is always an emotional night, but I thought we played with a lot of effort, although our execution was lacking at times,” Lady Bulldogs’ Head Coach Brian Upton said. “We did a nice job of getting up and down the court and scoring in transition, but at times we lacked defensive focus.”
Leading the way for Trenton was Whitley Richman, who had a monster performance going for 23 points and 15 rebounds. Ainsley Tolson followed with 17 points, five steals and three assists. Seniors Daryian Otto and Lexie Tolson had six and four points respectively and each pulled down three rebounds. Lexie Tolson added five assists and three steals.
Jaylen Neff added three points for Trenton and Mykah Hurley, Sydney Lynch, Taylor Richman and Ockenfels all had two points each to round out the team total. Croy had two assists and three steals and Ashten Whitaker totaled two assists as well.
“Everyone got in the ballgame and everyone contributed something positive to help with the win,” Upton said. “I am really proud of the three seniors. They have dedicated so much time and effort to improve the THS basketball program. I have been blessed to coach them all four of their high school years and when next year rolls around their dedication, desire and leadership will be greatly missed.”
With the win, Trenton moved to 19-5 on the season.
Bulldogs
Twice this season Trenton had fallen to Hamilton in tournament semifinal games. Both times Trenton Head Coach Jeremy Austin said he was looking forward to the season finale with the Hornets because he knew his team could compete with what he called the “best team we’ve seen all year.” Thursday night, the Bulldogs did just that. Had the last shot of the night went down, Trenton would have pulled off the upset.
As it happened, however, Brice Dillon’s shot didn’t quite find its way through the hoop and Trenton just missed knocking off a two-loss Hamilton team.
“We ran things the way we wanted to,” Austin said of the final possession. “We looked to get the ball inside, if they doubled up on that, then we were ready to knock down the outside jumper. It kind of went the way we wanted it to, we got a pretty decent look at it and the kids had been shooting well all night. That’s all you can ask for in these things.
“To have a chance to beat (Hamilton) is a pretty big deal for us because we know they are good and I still hold that they are the best team we have seen anywhere on the floor this year.”
Trenton led most of the night after trailing 14-13 after a quarter of play. The Bulldogs used a 15-7 run in the second quarter to take the lead and held Hamilton at arms length through the third quarter, leading by seven points before a three-pointer at the buzzer closed the gap to four entering the fourth quarter. Trenton led until the closing minutes of the game before Hamilton re-took the lead and had their shot at the upset with the last shot, but couldn’t quite pull off the upset.
Cree Mullenix led the Bulldogs with 23 points and two assists and Dillon had 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Connor Cotton had 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals and Spencer Harris had seven points and two assists. Kail McCarter rounded out the team total with three points. Corbyn Guile had five assists and four steals and Mason Radcliff had two assists.
Trenton fell to 13-10 on the season with the loss.
The Trenton teams will see district action in Lawson next week. The Lady Bulldogs face Brookfield Monday at 8:15 p.m. and the Bulldogs take on Richmond Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.