Peters Township passes early test against Trinity
The Trinity and Peters Township girls basketball teams both have high ambitions for the 2015-16 basketball season.
And to get to where they hope, both will have to pass some major tests along the way.
Monday night, that included a game against each other in what was a first major hurdle of the young season for both programs.
The Indians jumped out to an early lead on the Hillers in the first half, going up by 21 at one point, but Trinity kept fighting in the second half to make it a close game.
Ultimately, clutch free-throw shooting from Indians senior Madison Kerr proved to be the difference as the Indians escaped with a 56-52 non-section victory.
“A tale of two halves,” said Peters Township head coach Bert Kendall. “We have some experience now. A couple of years ago we probably lose this game. Our seniors stepped up, but we also had some freshmen out there in crunch time. This is why we want to play good teams though. It’s a measuring stick.”
The pace of the game was very fast – something that played to the Indians’ favor early.
PT (3-0) put together an 18-4 first-quarter run that gave the Indians a comfortable lead. Cameron Morgan scored 10 of her 12 points in the first quarter, mostly all in the paint.
“We want to play fast,” said Kendall. “It’s our depth and our speed. We had some starters in foul trouble and our bench really came through. We had a lot of things clicking in the first half.”
The second quarter belonged to Kerr. After being held scoreless in the first quarter, the senior scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the second as the Indians built a 41-23 halftime lead.
After being a step slow and being beaten to loose balls in the first half, Trinity head coach Bob Miles switched to a zone defense in the second half and it changed the momentum of the game.
The Hillers held the Indians to just one field goal in the second half as the Indians scored just 15 points in the final 16 minutes.
Meanwhile, Trinity started to chip away at the PT lead.
The Hillers started the third quarter on a 9-2 run and cut the lead to 10 entering the fourth quarter.
“I think going zone slowed them down,” Miles said. “We can’t keep allowing ourselves to dig a big hole early against good teams and have to scramble to get back in the end. I think we ended up taking them out of their rhythm. We played very hard in the second half.”
The Hillers closed within two at 50-48 with just 50 seconds left when Abbey O’Connor hit a jumper.
That, however, would be as close as they would get as Kerr finished the game off at the free throw line, where she made all 12 of her attempts in the game.
Trinity, coming off a 20-22 night at the line Saturday in a win over Saltsburg, was just 17 of 28 in this game.
“She was great,” said Kendall of Kerr, who finished with 19 points. “That’s why you want your all-conference senior on the line in these type of games.”
Sierra Kotchman led Trinity with 18 points. Senior Mary Dunn chipped in 11.
“The free-throw shooting was the difference in the basketball game,” said Miles. “We typically pride ourselves on being a good free-throw shooting team. This was a good test for us though. They are a very good team. We needed to be tested and if we play every game like we played in the second half, we will be a pretty good basketball team.”