Kotchman took over for Trinity
Trinity High School senior basketball player Sierra Kotchman always wanted to be like her mother, Jackie, on the basketball court, and she had a high standard to follow.
In her time, Jackie, the former Jackie Bonus, was the first girls basketball player at Trinity to score 1,000 points and went on to a stellar career at Ohio University, where she was the first women’s player in Bobcats history to score 1,000 points. Jackie went on help start the women’s basketball program at Waynesburg University and later was Trinity’s head coach.
“She was teaching me how to play basketball, probably from the time I could walk,” Kotchman said of her mother. “She took me to camps and taught me everything about the game. She taught me to work hard at everything I do and to always be the hardest worker.”
The younger Kotchman, however, surpassed her mother’s on-court scoring accomplishments at Trinity as a junior and was the driving force this season, when the Hillers did something no girls basketball squad from Washington or Greene County had ever accomplished. Kotchman averaged 19.3 points per game, shot better than 50 percent from the field and 84 percent from the free-throw line in helping Trinity advance to the PIAA Class 5-A championship game in Hershey.
Trinity became the first Washington or Greene County school to make the state finals in girls basketball.
For her accomplishments, Kotchman has been named the Observer-Reporter Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
“It’s a very good choice,” Trinity coach Bob Miles said. “From the time she was a freshman to now, she has made a huge impact on our program, not just because of her scoring, but because of all the little things. The kids responded to her. They looked to her for that leadership thing, which you don’t have every year.”
The sharp-shooting Kotchman, who stood out even in a Trinity program that emphasizes winning and team wholeness, had plenty of competition for Player of the Year on the all-district team in what was an outstanding season for girls basketball in the area. Much of that competition came from Chartiers-Houston forward Alexa Williamson, who averaged 23 points, 12.5 rebounds and led the Bucs to the WPIAL Class AA championship.
It was Kotchman, however, who delivered the signature performance of the season, against South Fayette in the state semifinals. Before a standing-room-only crowd at Peters Township High School, Kotchman helped Trinity erase a double-digit deficit in the first half by scoring 30 points, including seven three-point field goals. One of the three-point shots was a driving 25-foot buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter that turned a one-point Trinity lead into a four-point advantage and drained the life out of South Fayette. Trinity went on to win, 61-51.
Kotchman’s buzzer-beater and shooting display will not soon be forgotten by anybody who witnessed them. And when you consider they came in a state semifinal, and how hard it has been for local girls teams to get to a PIAA final, Kotchman’s performance might grow to legend with the passing of time.
“Kotchman was in another world,” South Fayette head coach Matt Bacco said that night. “She’s beating three defenders and hitting half-court shots. You just have to tip your hat to her. I don’t think she missed a shot.”
For Kotchman, it was, well, a whole lot of fun.
“When we fell behind early, I was really determined that nothing was going to stop us,” Kotchman recalled. “We knew we could come back. I knew South Fayette wasn’t going to stay hot from the field the entire night.
“I think that was one of the best games I’ve played. I know it was most fun because of all the fans, which made for a great atmosphere for basketball.”
Miles wasn’t even sure if that was Kotchman’s best game. There are simply too many standout performances to choose from.
“I thought she really played well in the South Fayette game,” Miles said, “but there also was a game we played at Greensburg Salem in an early season tournament last year when she scored 34 points and was making shots from everywhere in the gym. But when you factor in the importance of the South Fayette game, that probably was her best. She made shots that were defended and timely.”
Kotchman finished with 1,706 points at Trinity. In the Hillers’ 44-39 victory over Archbishop Carroll, a team from the powerhouse Philadelphia Catholic League, in the PIAA quarterfinals, Kotchman set Trinity’s all-time basketball – boys and girls – scoring record. She scored 550 points this year, which is the Hillers’ single-season record.
“She is so accurate as a shooter,” Miles said. “She has such a quick release.”
She is, however, more than just a jump shooter. Kotchman became a complete player.
“Sierra is a good help defender. She’s very good at blocking shots from behind,” Miles said. “And I don’t have her assist totals for the last four years, but I know there were a lot of kids who scored a lot of points off her passes.”
Kotchman averaged 3.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game this season. What the team-oriented Kotchman really wanted was two more wins in the WPIAL tournament and one more in the state playoffs.
When eventual WPIAL champion Chartiers Valley avenged a regular-season loss to Trinity and knocked off the Hillers in the WPIAL semifinals, Kotchman was held scoreless.
“That was just a crazy set of cirumstances that night,” Kotchman said.
Nobody, Miles says, took that loss harder than Kotchman. And nobody was more determined to help the Hillers do something memorable in the state tournament.
Kotchman scored a game-high 16 points as Trinity disposed of Chartiers Valley in a rematch in the second round of the state playoffs.
“Sierra was determined to not let the season end. She wanted us to keep playing,” Miles said.
The end finally came in the defensive-oriented championship game against Archbishop Wood, also from the Philadelphia Catholic League. The Vikings edged the Hillers 34-26 to win their fifth state title before more than 7,000 fans at the Giant Center in Hershey.
“Our entire team, we were so proud of ourselves because we were the first team and school in Washington County history to make the state finals,” Kotchman said. “It was awesome.”
Kotchman will play next season at Fairmont State, which is a member of the NCAA Division II Mountain East Conference.
“I was impressed with the coaching staff and I think it’s the right fit for me,” Kotchman explained. “They play an uptempo game and shoot a lot of threes, which is what I like.”