DIFFERENT PLACES

Trenton Girls’ Defense In Peak Form In Victory

At the onset of the season Trenton head coach Kameron Cool knew his team was going to have to be better offensively. That said, he stated his teams would always be defensive minded.
Tuesday night in the opening round of the Gallatin Tournament Trenton showed the defensive intensity that has been a hallmark of the program since Cool took over three years ago. Had it not been for a buzzer-beating effort, Trenton’s opponent — the host Gallatin Bulldogs — wouldn’t have reached double figures. As it was, Trenton settled for a comfortable 48-10 victory in the three-six seed match-up of the tournament.
“They just worked really hard,” Cool said of his team. “We didn’t take possessions off on defense and we made sure to really put pressure [on Gallatin]. We felt like we got outworked against East Buchanan and we didn’t want that to happen again.”
Trenton’s defense limited Gallatin to just three points in the entire first half and going into the fourth quarter, Gallatin sat at just four points. The host Bulldogs shot just nine percent from the field, connecting on just 3-of-31 shot attempts in the game.
Trenton’s pressure defense in the first half led to a lot of points as well and Trenton piled up 18 in the first quarter and 12 more in the second before backing off. Trenton worked the ball around the perimeter a lot more in the second half, but still outscored the host school in both the third and fourth quarters.
“I liked how we found space and I also loved our inside-out game,” Cool said. “Our threes were from the inside out and not just off reversals and that got a lot of great looks. I also liked our pace. I thought we really pushed the ball well in transition.
Trenton was led by Morgan King, who knocked down five three pointers on the way to a 15-point night. Morgan King 15 points. Mirena King followed with eight points and six rebounds. Gracyn Rongey, Teya Cooksey and Mallory Sole all had five points each and Madi Moore finished with four points and seven rebounds. three points from Rebecca Urich, two from Astrid Soriano and one from Kaegan Croy rounded out the Bulldogs’ total.
It was the first win of the season for Trenton, which moved to 1-2 overall and advanced into the winner’s side of the bracket. The Bulldogs were scheduled to take on second-seeded Maysville on Thursday in the semifinals. The girls championship game is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. while the third-place game will be played tonight (Friday) at 7 o’clock.
For Gallatin, AnnaBelle Ball scored seven of her team’s 10 points.
“We got outplayed against Trenton,” Gallatin head coach Cole Lockhart said. “Credit to them. Coach Cool had their girls prepared exceptionally well. It was tough for us to get much going offensively.”
WINSTON GIRLS 52
GALLATIN GIRLS 48
Gallatin was back in action on Wednesday night, taking on Winston in the consolation semifinals. The tournament ended there for Gallatin as it was defeated by the Redbirds by four points.
Gallatin was outscored marginally by Winston in each of the first three quarters and went into the final frame trailing by 10 points. Gallatin rallied, however, tying the game with under a minute to go.
It would be Winston who came out on top, however, responding to the situation well and going on to clinch the consolation game berth.
“Against Winston, we saw a drastic improvement on both sides of the floor,” Lockhart said. “We executed offensively. I challenged the girls to be more aggressive looking for shots and matching up with them defensively. We got in foul trouble, but it was good to see our girls empty the tank with effort and intensity. I think our girls responded well when we could have felt sorry for ourselves and given up after the Trenton loss and we didn’t do that. We have some resilient players and I’m proud of them for being coachable and wanting more success out of this season.”
Ball went for 22 points in the Winston loss and Ashley Feiden added 17 points.
The two losses at the tournament dropped Gallatin to 0-3 overall on the season. The Bulldogs will look to get into the win column on Tuesday as they play host to Northland Christian at 6 p.m.
Gallatin, Trenton Boys At Opposite Ends Of Spectrum
The Gallatin and Trenton boys basketball teams are in opposite places right now. One team brings back the vast majority of a conference championship team from a year ago. The other graduated nearly every starter from a team that won just three games a season ago.
The gap between the top-seeded Gallatin Bulldogs and eighth-seeded Trenton Bulldogs was on full display on Tuesday night as Gallatin picked up a 90-38 opening-round win.
Gallatin used a full-court press to race out to a 38-9 lead just eight minutes into the contest.
“I thought we played hard from the tipoff,” Gallatin head coach Chad Sullenger said. “Our pressure did a great job of forcing some turnovers early, which really helped us gain some early momentum. Trenton tried to clear us out to create some space for their ballhandlers and I thought that Layton Shubert and Brett Hemry did a terrific job in getting into their rotations when we got them in a trap.”
Gallatin eased off the accelerator in the second quarter, adding just eight points to their advantage, but the host Bulldogs ramped things up again in the third quarter, outscoring Trenton 25-10. Gallatin would put up just eight points through the final eight minutes, falling 10 points short of breaking 100.
Payton Feiden and Isaac Bird feasted at the head of the Gallatin press. Feiden finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds and Bird had 24 points, six rebounds and four steals.
The Bulldogs also got 15 points from Durk Stout and Hemry and Peyton Johnson each scored six in the win.
The Bulldogs moved to 2-0 on the season with the win. Gallatin was set to take on Braymer in the semifinals on Thursday. The boys championship game is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday while the third-place contest will be held on Saturday at noon.
Trenton was led by Bradyn Sager, who had a nice showing in spite of the loss. Sager led the Bulldogs with 14 points, going 6-of-8 from the field with four steals and two assists. Kiefer Tolson followed with nine points and Gabe Novak added five.
North Harrison Boys 65
Trenton Boys 52
Trenton was eliminated from the Gallatin Tournament the following night, falling 65-52 to North Harrison in the consolation semifinals.
Trenton fell behind 19-8 in the opening frame, but began to claw its way back in the second and third quarters. Going into the final frame the Shamrocks’ lead was just five points. North Harrison would score 23 points over the final eight minutes, however, part of that stemming from eight converted free throw lines when Trenton was forced to foul late.
For the Bulldogs, Tolson paced the team with 13 points. Dylan Spencer added nine, Seth Doolittle had seven and Maverick Sole and Sager each finished with six.
With the two losses, Trenton fell to 0-4 overall on the season.
The Bulldogs will return to the court on Tuesday, playing host to Marceline. Tipoff will follow a girls match-up between the two schools, which begins at 6 p.m.