Entering the fourth quarter, the Trenton High School girls basketball team was certainly in striking distance, trailing visiting Marceline by five points. But Marceline free throws and some timely three-pointers by the Tigers — including one at the game’s final buzzer gave Trenton a loss by a final score of 48-35.
“I was so proud of how hard the girls competed,” Trenton head coach Kameron Cool said. “The final score was not a great indicator of how well we played against a very talented and physical Marceline team.”
What was indicative of Trenton’s resolve was the halftime score. Trenton trailed 21-14 at the break and did so playing without two huge pieces of their team. Mirena King, Trenton’s leading scorer, sat with three fouls for much of the first half. Madi Moore, Trenton’s leading rebounder, went down with an ankle injury and would not return the rest of the night.
Yet at halftime, there was Trenton, just seven points back.
A 7-0 run over the first 59 seconds of the third quarter leveled the game, but after a Marceline timeout, Trenton was unable to keep the furious offensive pace up. The Tigers re-took the lead and, despite Trenton staying close into the middle stages of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs would not be able to tie the game again the rest of the way.
Mirena King led Trenton in scoring despite sitting much of the first half, finishing with 12 points. Morgan King followed with nine points and Moore added five, all coming before her first-half injury. Trenton also got four points from Chandler Lynch, three from Gracyn Rongey and one each from Rebecca Urich and Mallory Sole.
With the loss, Trenton fell to 2-4 overall on the season.
The Bulldogs will have their hands full tonight (Friday), playing host to the Chillicothe Hornets, who enter the game at 4-0, fresh off a Savannah Tournament championship. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 o’clock.