By Jordan Richart
For The Tribune
Some nights, teams are firing on all cylinders, and Thursday evening was one of those nights for the Trinity Lutheran girls basketball team.
The Cougars showed out for a dominating performance with a 72-48 rout of Christian Academy of Indiana at the Bollinger Athletic Complex.
It was one of those victories that coach Darrin Keith hopes the team can build off of through this stretch of the season. He said his team played more aggressively on offense, which is something he’d like to see his team continue to do.
“We’ve been thinking about missing shots rather than taking shots, so I hope this gives us more confidence moving forward,” he said following the game. “I hope it gets us out of our heads and gets us back to playing basketball.”
The Cougars had four players in double figures, led by senior Liza Froedge and freshman Marley Warren, who had 19 and 18 points, respectively. Madison Keith and Laura Roeder each had 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers.
The Cougars pulled down 28 rebounds, which was led by Keith and Bailey Bonde each having eight.
Carly Stevens led the Warriors with 17 points.
The first quarter was close until midway through when Froedge hit back-to-back field goals for her first four points of the game. That sparked the Cougars offense to close the quarter on a 15-3 run to bring the score to 24-9. The Cougars were led by Warren and Froedge with nine and seven points, respectively, in the quarter.
The Warriors started the second quarter with five straight points off of a 3-pointer and a basket from Leah Stevens, while the Cougars struggled with a pair of turnovers.
The Cougars then settled in and started a 10-0 run with Warren scoring four points during the run after scoring for the first time with 5:56 left in the quarter. The Warriors answered with an 8-0 run of their own before coach Keith took a timeout.
That reset the Cougars, and the team finished the half with another 10-0 run, led by Froedge with two 3-pointers and Keith, who went 4 for 4 from the free throw line during the stretch.
That gave the Cougars a commanding 44-22 lead at halftime.
The Cougars outscored the Warriors 14-9 in the third quarter with consistent play and aggressive defense. Keith, Marley Warren, Emerson Warren, Roeder and Froedge each scored in the third quarter to bring the score to 58-31.
The final quarter was back-and-forth with the Warriors edging out the Cougars for the only time during the game, outscoring the home team 16-15. The Cougars racked up the free throws in the fourth quarter, going 5 for 6 from the line with free throws by Froedge, Marley Warren and DeAnna Rothert.
The Cougars were able to pull starters in the final quarter and give some players off the bench and on the junior varsity squad some playing time.
Keith said he was glad to be in a position to give those players experience to help build them up.
“The kids who got to come off the bench was a good thing because I think they can grow and get more confidence with that playtime,” he said.
Keith said it also was satisfying because he knows the work those players put in each week to prepare for games and help the varsity and starters prepare for opponents.
“They come in here like unsung heroes because they come in and work hard on junior varsity, and they make us better because they play us hard,” he said. “Getting them in in the varsity level does nothing but help them.”
The Cougars will travel to Orleans on Saturday for the next game.
“I think we need to come out in our shootaround (Friday) and have some fun and build off this,” he said. “We need to play exactly like we did tonight, and we will get the same result.”
Cougars;72
Warriors;48
Christian Academy;9;13;9;17;—;48
Trinity Lutheran;24;20;14;14;—;72
Trinity Lutheran (4-3): Liza Froedge 7 3-5 19, Marley Warren 7 2-4 18, Madison Keith 2 7-10 11, Laura Roeder 5 0-0 11, Bailey Bonde 2 0-0 4, Emerson Warren 1 1-2 3, Maddie Adams 1 0-0 2, Jordan Brewer 1 0-0 2, DeAnna Rothert 0 2-2 2
3-pointers: Trinity Lutheran 6 (Warren 3, Froedge 2, Roeder)
Rebounds: Trinity Lutheran 28 (Bonde 8, Keith 8, Roeder 3)
Turnovers: Trinity Lutheran 15
Fouls: Trinity Lutheran 20