Mar 4, 2021 4 min read

For a moment, Trinity didn’t look like Trinity.

The Hillers fell behind 7-0 to Mars in the first quarter.

Sure, the game was still in its infancy, and the No. 1-ranked Class 5A girls basketball team in the state didn’t have a legitimate reason to panic.

But the WPIAL playoffs can be wild, so the thought of an upset may have crossed the minds of the home crowd – now greater in size because of revised COVID-19 restrictions – inside Hiller Hall.

In a flash, Trinity led 33-7.

It’s probably fair to say coach Kathy McConnell-Miller’s squad figured it out.

The 33-0 run put the game to bed well before halftime, and early kinks aside, the Hillers had little issues in their 83-36 win over the Planets in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

“I think they just got super anxious,” McConnell-Miller said. “They were so excited about the additional fans … so there was an excitement within them that they hadn’t had all year. So, I think they literally tried to win the game in the very first possession.”

The game wasn’t quite the bell-to-bell domination that sums up much of Trinity’s regular season, but the Hillers (19-1) found their stride before the end of the first quarter. Trinity scored 17 straight points to enter the second period with a double-digit lead, and then scored the first 16 points of the second quarter to suffocate any chance of an upset.

“Once they settled down, once they got control of themselves, once they realized that you’re not going to win in the first three possessions, then they started playing defense and started playing within themselves,” McConnell-Miller said.

“I was just happy to watch it. I was enjoying it myself.”

Having Courtney Dahlquist back also helped.

Trinity’s star senior missed the last two games of the regular season with an ankle injury. Although the Hillers didn’t need Dahlquist in the lineup to take care of Connellsville and Ringgold, there was concern that her injury might nag throughout the Hillers’ quest for a WPIAL championship.

Against the Planets (10-10) however, Dahlquist looked like herself, scoring a game-high 22 points.

“We were happy that she transitioned back as quickly as she did,” McConnell-Miller said. “Sometimes ankle injuries, they linger, and sometimes you just don’t get back into the flow as quickly as you would like. We have a great training staff that’s really put in the time with her. She’s put in the time. So for that to happen, I credit Courtney’s diligence. I credit an exceptional training team in getting her back in on time.”

Dahlquist credited her success to those around her.

“My teammates were just finding me for great passes,” she said. “We were running stuff for me, and they just wanted to keep giving me the ball, so I just kind of kept shooting it.”

For McConnell-Miler, the teamwork that was perhaps Trinity’s greatest asset in the regular season showed itself in round 1 of the playoffs.

“I think what you saw tonight is just unselfish basketball,” she said. “They make the extra pass. They take care of each other on the floor.”

Kaylin Venick added 16 points and junior Alyssa Clutter scored 12.

Dahlquist, Venick and Clutter are all usual contributors for Trinity, but Thursday night also gave McConnell-Miller an opportunity to empty her bench and give in-game playoff experience to the players that likely will make up the future of Trinity girls basketball.

“We have a really strong freshman group, and for them to be a part of this experience, I believe will go a long way individually and as a team,” McConnell-Miller said. “They’ve had a lot of success in our youth programs, and I believe that any time I can get them on the floor, I’m going to put them on the floor. I know they can handle it.”

After losing in the WPIAL title game last season, the Hillers are looking to get back and this time, complete the job. Unlike last year, Trinity won’t be able to compete in the state tournament without a district championship. The Hillers continue their quest against the winner of Thursday’s Penn Hills Fox Chapel game Monday evening at 6.

“This year, if we lose, we’re done,” Dahlquist said. “So we really have the mentality that we’re 0-0 right now. We’re not thinking about what we did in the regular season, because we’re just trying to play as well as we can now.”