There wasn’t a whole lot Trenton High School girls basketball Head Coach Brian Upton could do. With Trenton’s junior varsity hosting Milan at home, the Bulldogs had just seven players to work with in the opening round of the Hamilton Tournament. With no junior varsity to go to on the bench, Trenton almost couldn’t help but run up a 73-16 victory over the tournament’s eighth-seeded South Harrison Bulldogs.
With the circumstances, perhaps it was for the best that Trenton didn’t exactly come out of the gates on fire. Had the Bulldogs done that, it could have been really ugly.
But, as it was, South Harrison actually spent a little bit of time leading Trenton in the opening frame before Trenton took an 11-7 lead into the second quarter. It was all downhill from there as Trenton stretched the advantage to 34-10 by halftime and 61-14 entering the fourth quarter. With Trenton’s players backing way off and the clock running continually, the Bulldogs still outscored South Harrison 12-2 over the final eight minutes of the contest.
“We didn’t come out the sharpest, but we kicked it into gear in the second and third quarters,” Upton said. “Everyone played well, we were just a little lethargic at the beginning.”
Trenton was paced by Ainsley Tolson, who scored 20 points in the win, pushing her career total to 1,026. She tallied four steals and two assists as well. Maci Moore followed with 16 points and eight rebounds and Mykah Hurley had 12 points, three steals and two assists. Sidney Lynch added nine points, eight rebounds, five steals and two assists while Salem Croy had eight points and three steals. Ashten Whitaker and Lexi Whitaker each scored four points with Lexi totaling four steals and three assists and Ashten netting three assists as well.
With the win, Trenton moved to 16-1 overall on the season. The Bulldogs will face either East Buchanan or Lathrop in the semifinals on Thursday. That game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. in Hamilton.