The Trinity Lutheran girls’ basketball team found itself on the short end of a 45-44 score with six minutes remaining in last Saturday’s game against Southwestern (Shelby) in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.
The Cougars (4-1) then raised their level of play over the final 5:30 by outscoring the Spartans 12-6 to register a 56-51 victory.
Trinity coach Mike Lang said his team did not play well enough during the first three quarters, and therefore found itself in a dogfight, trailing 42-37 going into the fourth period.
“Southwestern made a lot of hustle plays,” he said, “For the first three quarters I felt like we were standing around watching and weren’t getting after it.
“Finally, in the fourth quarter I think we were a little bit more aggressive in winning the 50-50 balls. For the first three quarters you’ve got to give Southwestern all the credit because they won the 50-50 balls.”
Back-to-back baskets by Sydney Jaynes put the Cougars on top for good at 48-45 with 3:40 remaining. The 6-foot-3 senior finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Two other Trinity starters, Bailey Tabeling and Kailene Cockerham, said the Cougars need to play better from the start.
“We haven’t seen a defense like they played,” Tabeling said. “They face guarded Syd and me, and didn’t care where the ball was as long as we were in their sight. That kind of threw us off at the beginning. After halftime we kind of figured out how to beat it and how to get to the basket and score. That helped a lot.”
Cockerham said she did not think the Cougars played to the best of their abilities.
“We could have done a lot more,” she said. “We pushed through when we were down, which is good, and we still came out with a win so that’s all that matters.”
Lang said he felt like the Cougars did a good job of moving the ball.
“I thought our half-court offense was pretty good,” he said. “We shot over 50 percent from the field for twos. They did a nice job double and tripling down on Syd. We were able to find the open person when that was the case.
“We’ve still got to be a little more efficient when we’re shooting threes. When we ran our sets we got good looks. It’s just a matter of getting in, running our sets and if we don’t have anything in transition we’ve got to pull it out and run it.”
The Cougars made five threes with Tabeling making three. Cockerham and Liza Froedge hit one apiece.
Southwestern (3-3) had three players with 11 or more points, topped by Lily Kerbel with 15.
“We’ve still got to block out,” Lang said. “We got a couple stops and we didn’t block shooters out and they got their own rebounds. It comes back to doing the little things. Southwestern played hard. I told the girls in the locker room it wasn’t a 40- or 50-point win tonight. They’re not all going to be that way, but it was a team showing resilience. We got down, we battled back and we pulled this thing out so that’s what I’m proud of them for tonight.”
Trinity has a busy week beginning Tuesday at Indianapolis Lutheran. The Cougars will host Edinburgh Thursday and travel to South Central, along with the boys, for a girl-boy tripleheader including a JV boys game.
Trinity Luth.;13;15;9;19;-56
Southwestern;13;9;20;9;-51
Trinity Lutheran (4-1)- Sydney Jaynes 10 2-3 22, Kailene Cockerham 1 0-0 3, Bailey Tabeling 9 2-2 23, Liza Froedge 1 2-2 5, Genesis Munoz 0 0-0 0, Emma Schepman 1 1-3 3. Totals 22 7-10
Southwetern (3-3)- Maggie Correll 5 1-2 14, Trinity Tatlock 4 3-7 11, Lily Kerber 5 4-4 15, Lexi Wilkins 0 1 5-8 8, McKinley Carroll 1 0-0 2, Abby Muck 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 14-23 51
3-point goals: TL (Tabeling 3, Froedge, Cockerham), S (M. Carroll 3, Wilkins, Abby Muck)
Rebounds: TL 24 (Jaynes 11, E. Schepman 5), S (Tatlock 11); Turnovers; TL 7, S 13; Fouls: TL 17, S 9
Junior varsity
Trinity 31, Southwestern 28
Trinity (3-3)- Morgan Brewer 14, Hannah Durham 6, Katelyn Schepman 4, Emma Myers 4, Kayla Goecker 2 Diana Munoz 1