The Trinity basketball teams came up short on both ends of a conference doubleheader against Edmonson County at home Wednesday night.
The Lady Raiders got 27 points from Cassidy Morris and threatened to take the lead a handful of times, but they fell just short in a 51-45 loss. The boys’ team was up early but couldn’t hang on down the stretch in a 61-50 loss.
GIRLS
Trinity (7-13, 2-3) improved significantly since the last meeting with Edmonson County (16-7, 4-1), a 68-46 loss three weeks ago. Lady Raiders’ head coach John Cummings would have like the win, but was happy with a closer result this time around.
“They’re really good,” he said of the Lady Cats. “I think we keep getting better. I like what I see.”
Edmonson County built an early lead but were never able to pull away after an 18-11 at the end of the first. The Lady Raiders got five quick points from Morris to get within two, and the teams traded buckets over the next few minutes.
A drive and score by Morris cut the lead to three, though a pair of free throws with 20 seconds to go in the second put Edmonson County up 27-22 at the break.
It was Morris again that kept Trinity close to start the third, and mid-range jumper by Hadley Hatfield cut the deficit to 31-28. The Lady Cats pushed their lead to as many as seven points, and they carried a 39-34 advantage into the final period.
Two quick scores pushed the lead to 10 before 3-pointers from Georgia Howard and Morris had Trinity within striking distance again, leaving them trailing 46-42 with 3:55 to go.
The Lady Cats ran some clock and hit a few free throws, while another 3-pointer from Morris got the Lady Raiders back within four with 1:07 left. Edmonson County added a couple of late free throws, and Trinity wasn’t able to get a shot to fall in the final minute.
The Lady Raiders showed fight at the end, and Cummings was glad they didn’t fold.
“Our girls play hard,” he said. “I think they’re finally starting to believe. I’m really proud of them.”
Up next: Trinity vs. Hancock County, 6 p.m. Thursday
Scoring
Edmonson 18-9-12-12–51
Trinity 11-11-12-11–45
Trinity: Cassidy Morris 27, Georgia Howard 5, Nina Wathen 5, Josie Aull 4, Hadley Hatfield 2, Morgan Kinsey 2
BOYS
Sam Russelburg scored all 9 of his points in the fourth quarter, but Trinity (11-10, 2-3) couldn’t match a strong finish by Edmonson County (10-11, 3-2), who put up 23 points in the final frame.
Russelburg scored 7 straight points for a 46-44 lead with 5 minutes to play, and head coach Nathan West said that was one of the few positives in a mistake-filled night for the Raiders.
“(Sam) was due one of those games,” West said. “He had some games where he had fallen out of the rotation a little bit. He brought a lot of good energy. I thought he was the lone bright spot.”
The Raiders failed to score for the next 3:36, while the Wildcats went on a 10-0 during that stretch. Trinity wasn’t able to threaten after that, and late free throws sealed the win for Edmonson County.
The Raiders were up as many as 12 points in the first half following a quick scoring burst midway through the second quarter. Over the final 3:45 of the half, though, Edmonson County used four 3-pointers for a 16-6 run that cut the Trinity lead to 24-23 at the break.
The Wildcats were up by one after a back-and-forth third quarter, and turnovers plagued Trinity in the final period.
“We had a lack of focus,” West said. “There were a lot of dumb turnovers that we preach about all the time. Down the stretch, we had two turnovers in a row in crucial points. And we had a lack of energy overall.”
Up next: Trinity vs. Hancock County, 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Scoring
Edm. Co. 7-16-15-23–61
Trinity 10-14-13-13–50
Trinity: Ethan Howard 13, Landon Hall 9, Sam Russelburg 9, Trenton Morris 4, Brendan Wathen 4, Joe Brown 4, Kevin Foster 3, Ben Goetz 2, Devin Rhinerson 2
