Jan 17, 2017 2 min read

MONONGAHELA – The Trinity girls basketball team returned to action for the first time in a week and won its eighth straight game, downing Ringgold 59-38 in a Section 3-AAAAA contest.

“It took us a while to get going after the layoff and once we got our game legs under us, we ran the floor better,” said Trinity coach Bob Miles. “We have an unselfish team and it was only matter of time until we got running again.”

Ringgold had problems putting the ball in the hoop as it only made 11 shots.

“We won’t win a lot of games shooting like that and it has been an issue for us throughout the season,” said Ringgold coach Erika McCarthy. “We go over shooting every day at practice.”

Senior Sierra Kotchman scored 25 points to pace Trinity and freshman Riley DeRubbo, the daughter of Washington & Jefferson women’s basketball head coach Jina DeRubbo, added 14 points.

Ashley Briscoe led Ringgold with 21 points.

“We were sluggish defensively,” Miles said. “We basically allowed one player to score the majority of their points.”

Trinity (6-0, 13-1) went on a 10-2 run to take the lead in the first quarter.

However, Ringgold (3-3, 6-7) closed the quarter on a 6-2 run to pull to within 12-8 after the first quarter.

Trinity went on an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter but Ringgold would not go away and trailed 26-16 at halftime.

According to Miles, a close game was good for his team, which came in to the game winning its first five section games by an average of 44 points.

“It was a good game to get back in action and they gave us a challenge,” he added.

Ringgold scored the first four points of the second half, but Trinity then went on a 21-2 run to close the quarter and secure the win.

McCarthy was impressed with Trinity.

“They are a very good team,” she said. “They are solid.”