BASKETBALL: Trinity takes first of two in Windsor rematches

Trinity’s basketball squads played their final regular season home games on Tuesday against Windsor, and also celebrated senior night. The girls took care of business with a huge 61-21 win, but the boys could not finish another sweep, falling to the Knights 62-55.

Girls 

Coming off of three straight games against top-ranked teams in different classes,  the Lady Crusaders welcomed a break in the schedule against a Windsor squad that they had already beaten handily this season.

Trinity got off to another scorching start and never looked back.  Brinley Vinson got the Lady Crusaders going early with 10 first quarter points. The Lady Crusaders would lead 21-5 after one. 

The offense slowed down slightly in the second period, but Trinity’s defense continued to stifle the Lady Knights. The Lady Crusaders outscored Windsor 14-3 to lead 35-8 at the half.

Trinity’s lone senior Lauren Williams exploded for 11 points in the third as the lead ballooned to nearly 50 at one point. The Lady Crusaders scored 24 in the stanza despite emptying the bench midway through the quarter.  

It was 59-13 going into the mercy-shortened fourth. 

Williams made the most of her senior night with a career-high 20, and drained four 3-pointers.  Vinson finished with 14 and Maddie Grace Alligood added 10.

Boys 

In the first matchup, the Crusaders took an early lead against the Knights and pulled away late for a wire-to-wire victory.  This one did not go nearly that way, as Trinity dug a big early lead and had to battle back all night.

Neither team could buy a bucket early on as the game remained scoreless for nearly three minutes. When Windsor finally did get on the board, it would score the first eight before Trinity got a basket to go.  The Knights led 16-7 after one.

Trinity continued to struggle from the floor in the second quarter, and Windsor continued to find the range from behind the arch.  

The Knights drained their last of six first-half 3s to build a 31-12 lead and looked to be rolling. Luckily, the Crusaders closed the half on an 8-0 run to trail just 31-20 at intermission.

Trinity kept the late-half momentum going out of the locker room, and looked much better on both ends of the floor as it outscored the Knights 14-10 in the third to trail just 41-34 going to the fourth.

The comeback continued to be fueled by defense in the final period. A Tripp Mascaro steal and layup knotted the score at 45 with just under five minutes remaining in the contest.  

Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived. Colby Chappell drained a corner 3 on the next possession to give Windsor back a lead it would not relinquish.

A couple of questionable foul calls put the Knights in the bonus with just under four minutes left in the contest.  They would make the most of their foul-line trips, and a dagger 3 by Landon Locke with under a minute remaining sealed the Crusaders’ fate.

Seniors Ben Castro-Poveda and Anthony Frank-Woji led the Crusaders with 19 and 17 points respectively in their final home games.  The Crusaders were 14-of-19 from the foul line, but attempted just two in the final quarter.

The Knights were just 2 of 6 from the line through three quarters, but connected on 11 of 14 in the fourth to hold on for the win.  They also made nine 3s in the contest.  Locke led the way with 18.  Jeff Denny had 14 and Chappell added 12.

Next

Trinity’s teams were set to close out the regular season at Brentwood Friday night. The boys will open the region tournament with a rematch against Windsor in Tuesday’s play-in game. A win Friday for the Lady Crusaders will keep them out of the do-or-die round, and potentially lift them as high as the No. 2 seed in the bracket.