When Trenton and Braymer collided in the Gallatin Tournament championship game on Dec. 7, the Bulldogs were still finding their way. Four players were making just the fourth starts of their varsity careers and coach Kameron Cool, likewise, was in just the fourth game of his varsity high school basketball coaching career.
Still, a two-point loss in that game gave Braymer the four seed at this week’s Hamilton Tournament, leaving Trenton at the five spot.
Nearly two months have passed since that ill-fated match-up at Gallatin, but with Tuesday night’s result, Trenton looked years removed from that loss. The Bulldogs used a suffocating defense and a rare balanced scoring night to prevail this time around, winning 40-26.
“That early season loss has stuck with (the girls), so we were excited for the chance to see if we had improved since then,” Cool said. “The girls didn’t take any plays off tonight and played such a strong defensive game. We were incredibly tough and it got us on the right side of the bracket.”
Trenton limited Braymer to one field goal and three points in the opening quarter, taking a 7-3 advantage through the first eight minutes. Offense opened up for both teams in the second quarter as Trenton pushed the lead to 21-13 by halftime.
Braymer, once again putting a concentrated effort to slow down Maci Moore, held the junior forward to just four points in the first half. But, in the third quarter, Moore began to find her points as she posted seven in the frame to grow Trenton’s advantage to double digits at 30-19. A perfect fourth quarter from the free throw line allowed the Bulldogs to keep distancing themselves from the Bobcats on the way to the 14-point victory.
Moore finished with 13 points to lead Trenton while Lexi Whitaker scored 12 and Chandler Lynch added nine. The Trenton total was rounded out by six points from Kendall Crowley.
With the win, Trenton moved to 9-6 overall and placed itself in Thursday’s tournament semifinals, where a match-up with top-seeded East Buchanan awaited. Trenton dropped its season-opening match-up at East Buchanan by a score of 49-46.
Depending on Thursday’s result, Trenton will play on Saturday for either first place at 5:30 p.m. or third place at 3 p.m.
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