Though things looked bleak at halftime, the Lady Raiders buckled down and found a way to grind out a 36-27 home victory over Owensboro on Monday.
Neither team could get much going offensively for much of the night, though the Lady Devils (5-24) outscored Trinity 12-2 in the second quarter to take a 19-8 advantage into halftime.
OHS took their biggest lead when Tamia Smith’s bucket put them up 21-8 less than a minute into the third, but the Lady Raiders went on a 12-1 run over the final 4:20 of the quarter to get back within striking distance.
“We just weren’t gelling art first and everybody wasn’t looking to score,” said Trinity head coach Emily Hernandez. “We did make an adjustment and our girls started moving the ball better. They finally started getting some lanes to the basket, scored a little bit, got some confidence and started going.”
Trinity (13-15) tied the game twice with buckets by Morgan Kinsey and Cassidy Morris early in the fourth quarter. Owensboro then went up 27-24 with 4:05 to play after a free throw by Nia Gonzo and a long jumper by A’Lyrica Hughes.
The Lady Raiders took over from there, closing the game on a 12-0 run. Hadley Hatfield tied it up with a jumper with 2:45 to go, and a free throw by Josie Aull 30 seconds later put Trinity on top.
Aull iced the win over the next minute, converting an and-1 before hitting four consecutive free throws.
“You can get yourself in a hole like that and not be able to dig out of it,” Hernandez said. “We’ve been telling them that all year. Tonight they were able to dig out of it, but they can’t do that every night. They have to figure out how to play for 32 minutes.”
Kinsey finished with a game-high 11 points, while Aull added 10 and Morris had nine. Hughes led Owensboro with eight and Gonzo scored seven.
Trinity has now won five of their last six games, and Hernandez is hoping to carry some momentum into next week’s 12th District tournament.
“I think we’re playing pretty well,” she said. “We seem to play halves or three-fourths of a game. In the district tournament that won’t work. If we can put 32 minutes together, we can come out and compete.”
BOX SCORE
OHS 1-12-3-5—27
THS 6-2-12-16—36
OHS (27): A’Lyrica Hughes (8), Nia Gonzo (7), Chandler Worth (3), Nahias Gonzales (3), Tamia Smith (2), Kaylyn Sowders (2), Krystell Pappas (1), Kate Hrabolikova (1)
THS (36): Morgan Kinsey (11), Josie Aull (10), Cassidy Morris (9), Hadley Hatfield (3), Allie Graham (2), Katherine Hibbitt (1)
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2019-20 basketball coverage is presented in part by Rhoads & Rhoads Attorneys at Law.
