Jan 22, 2015 3 min read

Coming off back-to-back losses, Trinity needed a solid effort Thursday night at home against South Fayette if it wanted a tighter grasp of third place in Section 5-AAA.

Unfortunately for the Hillers, they didn’t get one.

The Lions jumped all over the Hillers, cruising to a 68-44 victory, avenging an earlier three-point loss to Trinity on Dec. 18.

The win moves South Fayette (4-4, 11-5), a half-game behind the Hillers for third place in the section.

“We talked about getting off to a good start,” said South Fayette head coach Matt Bacco. “There have been times this season that we didn’t come out with energy right off the bat. Being on their floor we wanted to come out of the gates fast. We are getting into the stretch run of the season and we had to come out fast. “

The Lions scored the game’s first eight points, taking a 14-4 first quarter lead on the Hillers (5-4, 11-5).

“You can’t come out and fall behind 10 points on your home floor right off the bat,” said Trinity head coach Bob Miles.

SF did a majority of its damage in the paint and upped its lead to 17 points halfway through the second quarter.

Carlee Kilgus and Autumn Mozick finished with 18 points apiece, many of them layups off drives to the basket. Sam Kosmacki also scored in double figures for the Lions, finishing with 12.

“We don’t normally give that type of stuff up,” said Miles. “We didn’t move our feet. We reached and we didn’t take driving lanes away.”

South Fayette’s center Emily Anderson grabbed all 11 of her rebounds in the first half, helping limit Trinity to just one shot on many occasions.

Mary Dunn was a bright spot for the Hillers, finishing with 13 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Trailing 24-7, Trinity’s Sierra Kotchman knocked down a couple of jumpers that helped key a 15-4 run that closed the South Fayette lead to 28-22.

But the Lions opened the second half much the same way they opened the game, going on a 14-3 run to all but put the game away.

Many of South Fayette’s points came off of Trinity turnovers.

“It was the same mindset coming out in the second half,” said Bacco. “We knew they would punch back and we said in the locker room that this is a game of runs. We had one to start. They had theirs and we needed to come out to start the second half with one of our own. Having that run to come out of the half was big.”

The South Fayette lead grew to 19 by the end of the third quarter and the Lions held a 20-point lead for most of the fourth.

Trinity was led in scoring by Kotchman, who hit four three-point shots, finishing with 17 points.

“We didn’t value the basketball tonight,” said Miles. “Did South Fayette outplay us or did we just turn it over so much and hand them the win? You can look at it from that standpoint. We just have to keep working hard. We have the talent. We have as much talent as anyone in the section. The kids just have to regroup and get back at it.”