EDINBURGH
Trinity Lutheran showed why it was ranked No. 1 in 1A Indiana high school girls basketball from the first minutes of Friday night’s sectional game against Shawe Memorial, who got the bad luck of the draw to start post-season play.
All of the moving parts of what has carried the Cougars to a 19-4 record so far this 2020-21 season were on display for the small, socially distanced crowd at the Edinburgh Sectional.
Guard Bailey Tabeling clicking on three-point shots from another area code? Check.
Center Sydney Jaynes maneuvering for openings in the low post and alternating with outside jumpers? Check.
The entire Trinity Lutheran defense ferociously trapping, stealing the ball and making fast-break lay-ups? Check, check, check.
Which amounted to checkmate for 2-9 Shawe. After the Cougars built a 25-6 lead in the first quarter you didn’t have to be Nostradamus to predict how this was going to end.
Trinity triumphed 86-23 to move into tonight’s 7 p.m. championship game against the late winner of the Crothersville-West Washington semi-final. Tabeling finished with 24 points and Jaynes scored 23 points.
“Set the tone, set the tempo,” said Trinity coach Mike Lang of why he decided to open the game with a full-court press. “It’s going to be situational, to slow people down.”
The Cougars were superior in every way versus the Hilltoppers, bringing height, quickness, and shooting to the game. When there were any misses, Trinity dominated the rebounding. It was not a good match-for Shawe when the only play called that seemed to work was a time out.
The Hilltoppers did lead 2-0, but did not score again until 1 minute, 45 seconds remained in the opening period. Shawe scored the first point of the second period on a free throw by Katie Jacobs and then the Cougars flexed muscles and ran off 22 straight points leading into half-time. It was just a one-point quarter for Shawe.
Lang was already going deep on his bench by then and used more players on the roster than usual.
“We were working on it,” said Trinity guard Kailene Cockerham of using the press. “We wanted to get out early.”
Cockerham swished two three-pointers in the first minutes and then played more of a role passing.
“I was ready, but we also had open cutters,” she said.
It was 47-7 Trinity at the intermission. The Cougars had just too much of everything. That kind of spread leads to running time in the second half in Indiana high school football.
The margin hit 50 points at 61-11 in the third quarter and going into the fourth quarter the score was 66-14 after Shawe hit a three at the buzzer off the glass. The lead grew to huge proportions. Jazmien Cox scored 19 points for Shawe.
Although the Cougars were confident of victory they did not expect this type of spread.
“You never expect that,” Cockerham said.
Trinity made an early-tournament statement, but the Cougars know each round, each game only gets more challenging.
“They know that,” Lang said. These players are natural hard workers, though, regardless of who they are playing. “This is a group of girls that plays hard for 32 minutes.”
Tabeling said she too realizes that an opening-game win in sectionals, and even a sectional title, only buys a team one more game.
“Regionals will get harder,” Tabeling said.
At Edinburgh Sectional
Trinity Lutheran 68, Shawe Memorial 66
Trinity Luth.;25;22;19;20;-86
Shawe Memorial;6;1;7;9;-23
Trinity Lutheran (19-4) — Sydney Jaynes 10 1-1 23, Kailene Cockerham 3 0-0 8, Bailey Tabeling 6 0-0 24, Liza Froedge 4 0-0 8, Genesis Munoz 0 0-0 0, Emma Schepman 3 2-4 8; Morgan Brewer 2 0-0 4; Katelyn Schepman 1 4-4 6; Hannah Durham 1 2-2 5; Kayla Goecker 0 0-0 0; Emma Myers 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 6-7 4
Shawe Memorial (2-8) — Abigail Hill 0 0-0 0; Yolett Perez 0 0-0 0; Calli Alderman 0 1-3 1; Autumn Lathern 0 0-2 0;Phoebe Grote 1 0-0 2; Katie Jacobs 0 1-2 1; Carson Cookie 0 0-0 0; Jazmien Cox 5 0-0 19; Evelyn Vaughn, 0 0-0 0. Totals
3-point goals: TL (Tabeling 4, Cockerham 2, Jaynes, Durham) SM (Cox 3)