TRENTON QUARTERFINAL BOUND

Midway through the second quarter of Wednesday night’s Class 3 Sectional game at Excelsior Springs High School, Trenton’s Ainsley Tolson strode toward the bench having picked up her third foul. Lawson led Trenton 15-14.
But with Tolson – Trenton’s leading scorer in the each of the Bulldogs’ previous two games – on the bench, Trenton showcased what it took to be a state quarterfinal team. The Bulldogs closed the half on a 12-3 run, then drubbed Lawson over the course of the second half, cruising to a 54-26 sectional victory, one that sends the girls’ basketball team to the state quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
“I was so proud,” Tolson said of her teammates’ performance late in the first half. “I knew they wouldn’t give up. We are a team together; that’s why we are a good team. If one of us has a bad game or fouls out or gets injured like Salem (Croy), we can just keep going. That’s what makes us good.”
At the time of Tolson’s third foul things were not looking good for the Bulldogs. Lawson was on an 11-2 run, one that got the Cardinals back into a game that Trenton dominated early. Whitley Richman was drawing her customary attention from the Lawson defense but, just as has been the case on Trenton’s latest run, other players stepped up.
Sidney Lynch put in a bucket under the hoop. Then Whitley Richman found Ashten Whitaker in transition for two more. Then Taylor Richman buried a three and the Bulldogs had a 21-17 lead late in the half.
And it didn’t stop there.
By halftime Trenton had pushed the advantage to 26-18.
“These girls know what to do,” Trenton Head Coach Brian Upton said. “They did their job. They went out there, they played good basketball. They made some buckets, they got rebounds and they just kept the flow going.”
In the second half, Trenton’s defense put on a clinic. Lawson managed just two points against the Bulldogs in the third quarter, a stretch that effectively put the game away. Lawson would net just six more points over the final frame as the Bulldogs ran away with the sectional title.
“We talked about getting good closeouts and body stops at halftime,” Upton said. “We were letting way too many girls get around us and that is why we got in foul trouble. Lawson is a good shooting team, but not a great shooting team. We wanted to get out to bother their shot, but not to block it. At halftime we tried to get out to within a couple of feet of them so they couldn’t drive to the basket as much. That caused a little more havoc.”
Despite Tolson sitting and Whitley Richman drawing the focus of the Lawson defense, the two still got their points. Tolson had 14 points and three assists and Richman added 13 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. Lynch was in double figures as well for the Bulldogs, scoring 10 points to go with eight rebounds and two steals. Taylor Richman had five points and four assists, Mykah Hurley had five points, one assist and three steals and Ashten Whitaker had five points, three assists and two steals. Lexi Whitaker rounded out the team’s total with two points.
Trenton shared the ball well in the win, garnering 15 team assists on 21 made baskets. Trenton shot 51 percent from the field and was four-for-eight from beyond the arc, knocking down the three ball well for the second game in a row.
The win pushes Trenton into the state quarterfinals for the first time in school history. While the program will be making its first appearance at this stage in the state playoffs, a majority of Trenton’s players were at this level last fall as the Trenton softball team also reached the state quarterfinals. As Whitley Richman points out, big games are nothing new for this group.
“Being here in softball showed us what to expect crowd-wise and it showed us that anything can happen in postseason play,” Richman said.
The Bulldogs will now get Southeast High School out of Kansas City on Saturday at Lee’s Summit High School. The winner will advance to the Class 3 Show-Me Showdown in Columbia. Southeast advanced by knocking off Boonville on Wednesday night in sectional action in Harrisonville, 41-36.
Southeast comes into the game with a 19-5 record. Trenton, meanwhile, now sits at 26-3 overall with the 26 wins representing a new school record. Tipoff between the Bulldogs and Knights is set for 2:45 p.m. on Saturday in Lee’s Summit.