Trinity holds on against Lady Raiders
Coming off an emotional win over Ringgold and perhaps looking ahead to Thursday’s meeting with cross-town rival Laurel Highlands, Uniontown’s Lady Raiders let one slip away Monday night. Trinity grabbed an early lead and held off Uniontown down the stretch to earn a 56-48 Section 2-AAAA win over the Lady Raiders. Trinity improved to 5-13 overall and 2-8 in section games, while Uniontown fell to 4-7 in the section and 10-10 overall.
“We came out sluggish,” Uniontown coach Jason Winfrey said. “We didn’t come out with the same enthusiasm we had in our last game. It might have been the case that we were looking ahead to Laurel Highlands. Maybe we were too confident.”
In any case, the Lady Raiders fell behind early, 7-1 and 13-5. To that point, three different Trinity players had made a three-pointer. And so it went for Uniontown the rest of the night, as the Lady Raiders kept battling back, only to let Trinity build its lead back up to six or eight points.
Uniontown never led in the game, but got to within two, 46-44, on a Jocelyn Chandler basket with 5:40 remaining. But, just as they had all night, the Lady Hillers ran off a 6-1 run and led, 52-45, with 1:36 remaining. Uniontown fouled Stephanie Addington on consecutive Trinity possessions and she nailed all four free throws, around a Chandler three-pointer, to make it 52-48.
“We might have run out of gas at the end,” Winfrey said. “All of the catching up we did took its toll.”
After Trinity jumped to a 34-24 halftime lead, the Lady Hillers seemed to get out of their offense in the third quarter, but Trinity coach Jim Webb knows why.
“Uniontown’s zone gave us some trouble in the second half,” Webb said.
“We still were getting good looks, the shots just weren’t falling. That happens in basketball.”
Trinity hit all six of its three-pointers in the first half, but still had enough left to pull out the win.
Chandler led Uniontown with 23 points, but was frustrated by Trinity’s defensive pressure.
“I think we made it hard for Jocelyn the whole game,” Webb said. “We didn’t want her to take over the game. Kylie Simonini did a whale of a job defensively.”
“They did a good job on her,” Winfrey concurred. “They got her a little frustrated. Give them a lot of credit. They had a good game plan, they stuck with it and they shot the ball well tonight.”
Emily Fisher added 13 points, including three three-pointers, for Uniontown. Megan Chicone paced Trinity’s balanced attack with 16 points. Addington added 14 and Vanessa Loar 10.
Uniontown remains alive in the race for the playoffs, but the Lady Raiders must win out, while Ringgold, which beat Laurel Highlands last night, loses the rest of its games.