Trinity Lutheran senior basketball players Genesis Munoz and Sydney Jaynes said senior night produced a special feeling for them.
The Cougars’ senior night was celebrated Tuesday night with a 63-15 win over Providence in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.
Both girls have been with the Trinity program for four years and have been in the starting lineup this season.
“That meant everything,” Munoz said of being introduced, along with her parents, before the game. “Ever since I was a freshman I’ve been looking forward to this day. It’s a memorable moment for me and I’ll never forget this day.
“We will really get it in practice if we don’t play our best. Winning on senior night is a big deal, especially for me and Sydney.”
Jaynes said the celebration “means a lot. I’ve been here for four years, and I just love that I get to celebrate this with my teammates. I love them so much. They’re like another family to me.
“I always hate playing (Providence) because they’re such nice people, but it was really special to get a W on my senior night.”
Cougars coach Mike Lang said he has enjoyed coaching both girls.
“Every team needs a player that is going to go out and do the dirty work and that’s what G does,” Lang said. “She’s not worried about her stats. She’s just out there. She rebounds, she works hard. You hate to say ‘garbage’ player but she’s just that garbage player that does all the little things for you that you need.
“There’s not enough accolades for Syd. She’s meant a ton to this program. The good thing is this isn’t your typical senior night, so hopefully we’ve got a lot more games here with them this year. But we’re going to enjoy tonight.”
Trinity had this one safely in the win column from the start by racing off to a 10-0 lead in less than three minutes, and leading 20-2 after the first quarter, 36-7 at the half and 52-13 after three quarters.
Lang said he liked the start.
“We talked about in practice dictating the tempo the first eight minutes. We did a good job of that Saturday night (against Crothersville) and it carried over here tonight.
“We were able to get out and get a good lead and kind of coast during the second half.”
Lang said his team played aggressive defense in forcing the Pioneers into 25 turnovers and held the visitors to 6-for-40 shooting and did not allow any Providence to score more than one basket.
But, he said the Cougars need to play better in certain situations.
“We’ve got to clean some things up. We only gave up 15 but there are some things we’re not doing right on weak side rebounds. We’ve got to clean those things up. That’s stuff you get to work on in practice after a big win.”
The Cougars held a 36-25 advantage in rebounds, but twice, once in each half, the Pioneers had three offensive rebounds on single possessions.
Providence missed its first five shots from the floor and had two turnovers that allowed Trinity to take the 10-0 lead.
Trinity held a 12-7 lead early in the second period before scoring the final 24 points of the half. Jaynes had four baskets and four rebounds in the second period, and Tabeling had six points in the period.
Munoz scored a layup at the 2:35 mark that boosted Trinity’s lead to 32-7.
The Cougars did not let up at the start of the second half as they went on a 12-0 run with a basket by Jaynes making the score 48-7.
Jaynes topped all players with 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds, Tabeling scored 17 and Kailene Cockerham reached double figures for the first time this season with 11 points.
Lang said his team is making progress. “We’re not taking steps backward that is for sure. Providence played hard tonight despite the scoreboard. They are very young and they played extremely hard. They challenged us on some things.
“We got carried away at times, and when we ran our offense we scored at will.”
Providence has only one senior on the roster and started one senior, three sophomores and one freshman.{/div}{div class=”yj6qo”}Trinity G box
Trinity Luth.;20;16;16;11;-63
Providence;2;5;6;2;-15
Trinity Lutheran (3-1)- Sydney Jaynes 12 1-1 25, Kailene Cockerham 5 1-2 11, Bailey Tabeling 7 0-0 17, Liza Froedge 3 1-4 7, Genesis Munoz 1 0-0 2, Katelyn Schepman 0 1-2 1, Hannah Durham 0 0-0 0, Kayla Goecker 0 0-0 0, Morgan Brewer 0 0-0 0, Emma Schepman 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 4-8 63
Providence (0-4)- Lauren Castleberry1 0-0 3, Kate Weber 1 0-0 2, Sydney Waldron 1 1-2 3, Lillie Weber 1 0-0 2, Isabelle Frey 0 0-2 0, Macy Hoskins 1 0-2 2, Erica Voelker 1 0-0 3. Totals 6 1-6 15
3-point goals: TL (Tabeling 3), PHS (Voelker, Castleberry)
Rebounds: TL 36 (Jaynes 11, Froedge 8, PHS 25 (Kaiser 8)
Fouls: TL 11, PHS 10
Turnovers: TL 8, PHS 20
Junior varsity
Providence 29, Trinity 22
Trinity (2-3)- Durham 8, Brewer 5, K. Schepman 4, Goecker 3, Emma Myers 2{/div}{div class=”adL”} {/div}{/div}{/div}{div class=”hi”} {/div}{/div}{div class=”ajx”} {/div}{/div} {div class=”gA gt acV”} {div class=”adn ads” data-message-id=”#msg-f:1684298967935637884” data-legacy-message-id=”175fd4fccf5c597c”} {/div}{/div}