In the aftermath of a 72-44 victory over Wellington-Napoleon on Thursday night, the five senior members of the Trenton High School girls basketball team embraced in countless hugs, posed for endless pictures and received gifts ranging from cookies to plush Bulldogs.
It was a bittersweet moment for a group of players that once again displayed why the last four years of Trenton girls sports have been so highly revered.
“It was sad, very sad,” senior Mykah Hurley said. “But, it was awesome to get a win. We love playing with each other. I think it has been nine or 10 years that we have been playing with each other and it was just great to get one last win on our home court.”
Winning is something this class has done a lot of. The win on this night was the 20th of the season for Trenton. The Bulldogs have now won 20 or more games in each of the last four years with this class playing – a group that in addition to Hurley includes Ainsley Tolson, Salem Croy, Sidney Lynch and Taylor Richman. That’s something that has never been done before in the history of the Trenton girls basketball program.
“I thought they were great,” Trenton Head Coach Brian Upton said of his seniors. “I thought they played with great energy, great execution. There was a lot of emotion in them, they wanted to play well in their last home game and I thought they accomplished that.”
The game itself was nearly an afterthought. But Trenton looked as good as it has in weeks against Wellington-Napoleon, ranked 10th in the state, albeit at the Class 1 level. After feeling the opponent out in the first quarter, Trenton led 16-11. Trenton then took off, going on a 17-2 run at the onset of the second quarter. Everything clicked during the run for the Bulldogs, who hit outside shots, rebounded and whipped the ball around the floor to set up easy baskets.
The run was highlighted by a layup from Maci Moore, followed by a steal on the ensuing in-bound pass from Hurley, who hesitated for only a second before burying a three-pointer.
“I wasn’t really waiting on (Wellington-Napoleon),” Hurley said. “I’ve seen Ainsley do that before and it rubs off on each other. A three was open so I took it.”
Late in the half, however, Wellington-Napoleon showed its resolve and cut into Trenton’s 20-point lead with an 8-0 run to close the half. At the break, there was still life in the visiting Tigers.
“I told the girls (at halftime), if you look at some of the game film I watched from Wellington, they got behind bigger schools several times and it would be 10 to 12 points,” Upton said. “Then they would make a run and come back. I said we need to come out with the same energy we had in the first quarter and we need to get after it and put this thing out of reach.”
Trenton did just that, suffocating Wellington-Napoleon with another tremendous run. There would be no letdown at the end of the third quarter and, when the game entered the fourth quarter, Trenton held a commanding 58-35 lead.
“We were talking about coming out hot at halftime,” Hurley said. “I think that helped a lot and we kept our energy up.”
Trenton played much of the fourth quarter with its five seniors on the floor before pulling the group out as one unit to a standing ovation from the crowd. The Bulldog reserves easily took the g­ame to the finish line from there, winning by the 28-point margin.
“I couldn’t really expect what we went out and did because it was pretty awesome,” Upton said. “That’s a Final Four-caliber Class 1 school and we just didn’t let them breath. I think we kind of frustrated them. I think 44 (Carleigh Jenkins) is the best player on their team and we made it hard on her to get her points. We just did a great job defensively and that’s kind of where it started. From there, the emotion just kind of took over and they just played lights out.”
Despite being the senior’s night, it was Moore, a sophomore, who did most of the heavy lifting for Trenton. Moore had a game-high 27 points, pulled down eight rebounds and added two blocked shots. Tolson followed with 18 points and seven assists and Hurley had 12 points and four steals. Trenton also got eight points and five assists from Croy, four points and eight rebounds from Lynch and three points from McKayla Blackburn.
As a team, Trenton dished out 22 assists on 27 made baskets. The Bulldogs connected on 55 percent of their shots from the field and knocked down eight three-pointers on 15 attempts from that distance.
For Upton, the win was the 260th of his career. Trenton stayed perfect at 20-0 overall on the season.