Dec 16, 2017 3 min read

If you thought the Trinity High School girls basketball team was in for a rebuilding season after last year’s trip to the state finals, then you’re either wrong or the reconstruction project is well ahead of schedule.

Trinity earned its biggest win of the young season Saturday afternoon by using some clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to knock off previously undefeated Bethel Park 57-54 at Hiller Hall.

The win improves Trinity’s record to 4-1. Bethel Park is 3-1.

“This is a huge win for us,” Trinity coach Bob Miles said. “Bethel Park was ranked No. 2 in the WPIAL in 6A. This was a good win because nobody thinks that we’re pretty good.”

Trinity was very good when it counted against Bethel Park. The Hillers led 35-28 at halftime, and when the Black Hawks made a fourth-quarter push Trinity had enough offense to hold on for the win.

Riley DeRubbo, who scored a game-high 25 points, made two free throws with 36 seconds remaining to give Trinity a two-point lead. Alayna Cappelli, who scored 14 points, sealed the win my making two free throws with seven seconds to play.

Trinity was 10-for-13 at the free-throw line in the game and combined that with some solid long-range shooting. DeRubbo had two three-pointers and was 7-for-7 at the free-throw line. Cappelli made three shots from three-point range.

Kamryn Lach led Bethel Park’s second-half charge and finished with 23 points.

Peters Township 46, Shaler 37: Maybe it was the early start time. Maybe it was because the varsity game was played before the junior varsity contest.

Whatever the reason was, Peters Township got off to a slow start Saturday afternoon at Shaler. The Indians found themselves trailing 14-5 late in the first quarter.

When the Indians finally got the wake-up call, they Shaler scoreless in the second quarter and rallied for a 46-37 victory in nonsection play.

Peters Township (5-0) scored the final 15 points of the first half and had enough balance in its scoring to hold off Shaler in the second half.

Isabella Mills led the Indians with 15 points, Makenna Marisa followed with 13 and Lillian Young had 10.

Emily Cavalini matched Mills for game scoring honors with 15 points.

Canon-McMillan 69, Penn-Trafford 45: Canon-McMillan drained the drama from its game against visiting Penn-Trafford early and cruised to a 69-45 victory in a nonsection game.

The Big Macs (4-1) dominated the first quarter and led 20-3 after the opening eight minutes. Penn-Trafford (3-2) never recovered from the early blitz and fell behind 32-13 at halftime and 53-27 after three quarters.

Tamara Mathis led four Canon-McMillan players to score in doduble figures. Mathis narrowly mised a triple-double as she scored 24 points to go with nine assists and nine rebounds.

Izzy Allen had her fifth consecutive double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Nayah Williams contributed 13 points and Abby Daniels had 10.

Mackenzie Aunkst led P-T with 13 points.

Boys result

Carmichaels 72, Mapletown 23: Carmichaels bounced from its first loss of the season Friday night o score more points in the first quarter than vsitiing Mapletown tallied in the entire game as the Mikes cruised to a 72-23 nonsection victory.

Carmichaels (3-1) raced to a 24-3 lead after one quarter and increased the advantage to 44-5 at halftime as the Maples (0-4) were sent to their 48th consecutive loss.

Jacob Lowry led Carmichaels with 20 points, Garret Ponick had 11 and Gavin Pratt 10.