BASKETBALL: Brentwood girls better in region finals rematch; Trinity boys clinch playoff spot in consolation

SANDERSVILLE – Scrappy defense and some savvy adjustments helped the Trinity girls overcome a dreadful start, but on a night like Friday’s when their shots just weren’t falling, there was only going to be so much they could do to change a losing cause in the region 2-AA title game. 

Brentwood, with some strong momentum and a home crowd at its back, drastically out-performed the Lady Crusaders to win 60-45 and claim the league championship for a second-straight season. 

The Eagles’ duo of senior forwards – Cadence English exploding for a team-high 27 points and Bailey Barron chipping in another 11 – were at their best in a final ride at home before the upcoming state tournament (in which a first-round bye, guaranteed win or lose, ensures the rest of their games from here will be played on neutral courts). Both, with the added efforts of Camryn Hancock (nine points) and Callie Jones (seven), contributed significantly to the field goal shooting percentage of 45 that summed up the can’t-miss performance. 

Trinity, in contrast, shot a clip of only 31 from the floor and was just 1-for-17 from outside. And if those numbers weren’t enough, a rebounding deficit of 47-21 did more to prove that this just wasn’t the Lady Crusaders’ night. 

“We came out, I feel like, a little timid,” head coach Lacey Shepherd said. “We played really hard (Thursday, in a 57-33 semifinal win over Gatewood), and we needed to bring that same intensity, but couldn’t seem to quite find it right off the bat. We’ve just gotta be able to execute a little bit better.” 

Defense, however, was a bright spot that kept their chances in the game alive until late in the second half, despite a first quarter that got off to as bad a start as possible. 

Brentwood collected multiple baskets and offensive rebounds as Trinity’s Brinley Vinson and Maddie-Grace Alligood both picked up their first fouls within 95 seconds. 

The Lady Crusaders, still searching out some nonexistent offensive rhythm with a Vinson 3-point play representing their only scoring, were in danger of getting blown off the court as Brentwood grabbed a 17-3 lead only four minutes later. 

Without any baskets to aid in setting up pressure, they were going to have to create some momentum for themselves defensively to reverse the slow spiral. Fortunately, they did, as Maddy George and Vinson combined on a 4-0 run for a spark to finish the quarter with a deficit of only 19-8. 

Trinity’s solid D continued to take hold, and take the ball away a good bit, in the second quarter. But Brentwood – when it wasn’t being hassled into turnovers – only slightly cooled down, and the Lady Crusaders still couldn’t shake their tough luck going the other way, making little progress on reducing the lead as several golden chances from the field and at the line went unconverted. 

Second fouls for both Barron and English to exceed the quarterly team limit around 1:34 left kept things trending in a good direction, but Trinity still couldn’t do much with the opportunity, mustering a 4-0 run to briefly make it an eight-point game before English tipped a shot back at the buzzer to get the Eagles into the half up 29-19. 

The Lady Crusaders played their best stretch of offensive and defensive basketball out of the half on a three-minute streak that cut the lead down to three, and signaled they might finally have a ballgame on their hands. 

Vinson went in strong on the first possession to draw Barron’s third foul, then scored six of the next eight points as Trinity dialed up its aggressiveness to get some much-needed stops, and force more turnovers. 

“I think we just challenged the girls, we felt like in the first half, each team member was waiting for somebody else to step up and do it, and we just challenged them that everybody’s gotta give the most effort when they’re on the court to work together well as a team,” Shepherd said. 

But the momentum just as quickly swung back Brentwood’s direction, as another Trinity drought hit near the two-minute mark, and Barron completed a 3-point play from the post to get the Eagles back in a 38-31 lead. English finished up the tide-turning sequence with a shot at the buzzer to answer a Crusader basket, and make it a 41-33 score going to the fourth. 

Finding the basket, for Trinity, remained like pulling teeth in the early part of the last eight minutes. 

Brentwood didn’t rush to put it away, but pulled back into a 12-point lead on a singlehanded 4-0 English run about halfway through. 

Trinity cut it back to 10, but failed to convert another great opening off a steal as Vinson missed a contested layup, then committed her fourth foul going after the rebound, in a sequence that felt like a backbreaker.

Chloe Rozier nailed a gotta-have 3 a few possessions later, but English answered it with one of her own (she knocked down four for the night) coming back to get the lead back to 10, and a 7-0 Eagle run continued with a bank-in by Barron and a driving basket by Jones before the two-minute mark that provided the final nails. 

Vinson led the Lady Crusaders with 23 points. Rozier added nine.

Brentwood’s confidence in this latest chapter of a multi-season rivalry, between teams and their talented senior classes who give you a great sense there can be a different outcome any time they play, once again followed trends tied to home-court advantage in the series that held true this regular season, and last, with fairly decisive wins by either team in their respective buildings before at least one neutral-site matchup in the region tournament and/or playoffs. 

This Eagle victory – in a second rematch of the year that was as much a foregone conclusion as the team’s fourth in the Final Four last season – evened the postseason series since 2024 to 2-2. 

The two teams, who will be the top two seeds in the AA state playoffs would have a shot to reunite for one more epic battle in the state championship game if history repeats. Trinity, with a full expectation that that moment of redemption will come later this month, left the floor Friday already focused on what that’ll take. 

“We’ve gotta make sure we finish,” Shepherd said, explaining that rediscovering that rhythm on offense is likely the only thing keeping her team from its best basketball. “We’ve got everything we need if we can put it all together on the right night.” 

For the moment, the Trinity girls will have a few days off as they enter the tournament with a first-round bye, and await the winner between seventh seed Windsor and 10th seed Heritage in the quarterfinals this coming Friday at Tattnall Square. 

“We just honestly need a little bit of rest, and then we’ve just gotta go back to executing and working defensively, working on our shots,” Shepherd said. “I felt like our shots didn’t really fall tonight. And when they don’t, we’ve got to pick it up and make up for that on the defensive end.” 

‘We felt like we needed that one’…

There’s no way of knowing if Friday’s consolation game actually amounted to a do-or-die proposition. But Trinity’s boys, with the fate of their season potentially in the balance from a spot on the bubble in the power rankings, weren’t about to leave it to chance. 

The Crusaders closed out Windsor 56-43 to all but nail down a berth in the AA state tournament, which they’ll enter as the 11th seed of 12, and open on the road at No. 6 Southland Wednesday. 

“We felt like we needed that one to get into the playoffs,” Trinity head coach Dr. John Williams said. 

A battle with late-season attrition had taken a steep toll on the Crusaders since early January, as a pile of struggles including multiple injuries had them on a four-game losing streak (including a 30-point semifinal loss to Central Fellowship) as several chances to bolster their standing went by the boards prior to a potential last shot on Friday. 

Jagger George scored 23 points, and Kolbi Grooms and Will Foskey chipped in 14 each, to lead the strong finish. 

“The first game with them, Jag had 47, and he had his way with them,” Williams said. “They adjusted some things in that second game. He saw three bodies every time he got the ball, so we were looking at high ball screens to try to free him up a little bit more. We were trying to bring their big guy out a little bit more to create a little more space. We were also looking at bringing him off some more off-ball screens as well. We used some dribble handoffs to kind of open up some driving lanes. 

“We felt like if we could get some one-on-ones, we felt like we could take ’em off the dribble. When we were driving, we were looking for the defense to collapse and hit our shooters too, and Kolbi knocked some big shots down for us in doing that. We were happy to get some driving lanes open and get some good ball screens tonight.” 

Things were virtually even in the first half, and Trinity held a lead of only one when the game hit a turning point midway through the third quarter. 

Grooms hit multiple free throws and a 3-pointer in the 10-0 run to take over control, before the Crusaders ended the third quarter with a 46-39 advantage. 

They were up eight with 4:34 to go when a Windsor technical foul gave Trinity free throws and possession for a chance to put it away. George knocked down both shots, then a 12-foot fadeaway off the handoff screen of Jude Evans to make it 53-41. 

The rest of the scoring was limited, but Trinity added three and gave up only two more to coast through the finish. 

Windsor, whose leading scorers were Landon Swain with 12 and Luke Lasak with 11, was outrun 29-18 in the second half. 

Williams was proud of the resilient performance by a Crusader team that likely has more players than not limited by one injury or another. 

George was banged up. So was reserve center Alston Bryan, who had sprained an ankle during practice earlier in the week, but was able to play in both tournament games. 

“He’s been a dog out there for us working through that,” Williams said. 

Evans, lost for most of January and February with a fractured hand, also made his return as a welcome addition to the backcourt. 

“He had two practices before we played (Thursday)” Williams said. “His hand, we’re having to tape it. We’re getting that hand better. We’re continuing to work on his ball skills. He was working at a high level before he got injured. He was really really looking good. He knows the game so well, sees the court, plays great defense, handles the ball well. We’re continuing to work with him and improve him in all areas.” 

Getting healthy enough to play with confidence is the biggest key as the Crusaders look ahead to a draw in the playoffs that will be tough, but not impossible. 

“Teams 5-12 are fairly even, and you’ve got 1-4 that’s cream of the crop, just head and shoulders above everybody,” Williams said. “But we’re hopeful if we can get in there, we’re hopeful to make a run and see what we can do.”