H-S Athlete of the Week: Violet Trump, Beth-Center
Submitted photo
NAME: Violet Trump
SCHOOL: Beth-Center
GRADE: Senior
SPORT: Basketball
TRUMP’S WEEK: Violet Trump scored her 1,000th career point just 23 seconds into Monday’s 52-46 girls basketball home win over Bentworth and finished the game with 20 points and 16 rebounds for her 14th double-double of the season. The four-year starter was coming off of back-to-back games last Wednesday and Thursday where she scored 21 points in a 51-40 win over Jefferson-Morgan and then totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 45-32 victory at Carmichaels. “It was fun,” Trump said of reaching the milestone on senior night. “My teammates were really excited for me when it happened and I thank them for supporting me. The stands were packed so it was a crazy moment. I was so grateful to be able to do that because not every athlete gets to score 1,000 points, especially at home. My point guard passed it into me from the corner and I did a drop step right to the basket and scored.” Beth-Center’s head coach is Trump’s sister, Elizabeth Trump, who was a three-year starter herself for the Lady Bulldogs and wound up scoring over 800 points. “She earned it,” Elizabeth said. “Nothing’s been handed to her. She works for every single point she gets. I’m very proud of her. As her sister, it was very emotional. I’m very grateful we were able to share this moment with our family and the team and my community.”
SIBLING COACH: Elizabeth Trump, who is 23, was hired as head coach just before the season began, but she’s been coaching her 17-year-old sister much longer than that. “She’s been coaching me my entire life basically,” Violet said. “She pushes me to be the best that I can possibly be. Sometimes we do bicker a little bit here and there but I try not to do that much and respect her because she’s my coach. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her.” Elizabeth has nothing but praise for her younger sister. “I’ve been her coach her whole life so I see a lot of me in her, naturally,” Elizabeth said. “One thing is she’s a true center, a true post player, which is what I was. That’s very rare nowadays. Whenever she starts backing people down, making moves, doing fakes and drop steps, I don’t think teams know what to do because they don’t face someone like that too often. She has a great inside game. She uses her size. She also worked really hard this summer to develop a better 3-point shot. She has eight 3-pointers this year so she can step out and shoot that if needed.”
HIGHLY RANKED: The 6-foot Trump, who is the daughter of Tim and Bridgett Trump, was averaging 15.3 points per game going into Thursday’s night’s Section 3-2A clash at California. She’s averaging 13.3 rebounds, which ranks seventh in the state, and her 14 double-doubles is sixth in the state and first among Class 2A players. “None of that is by accident,” Elizabeth said. “She works hard in the offseason between AAU teams, summer leagues and personal trainers. She’s very consistent and works very, very hard. What I love about Violet is she isn’t someone who chases points every game. That’s never her goal. She just lets the game come to her. She’s never been one to make everything about her so it was kind of different for her to be in the spotlight for once on senior night when she scored her 1,000th point.” Violet will continue her basketball career in college as she committed to the University of Pitt-Greensburg last Friday.
TEAM SUCCESS: The Lady Bulldogs have qualified for the playoffs for the third year in a row and were sitting in third place at 6-3 in the section with a 10-9 overall record. “We’ve made the playoffs every year since I was a sophomore and I’m proud of our team for that,” Violet said. “My senior year has been going well. I have a great support system with my coaches and teammates. I’m one of our team captains, with Alexia Fischer and Kyleigh McDaniel. They’re seniors, too, we have five seniors on our team. We work well with the underclassmen. We push each other in practice.” When asked if she’s a vocal leader or a lead-by-example player, Violet said, “I think it’s important to be both, and that’s what I try to do. When I think we’re not playing our best or we have a big game, I’ll speak up some and encourage my teammates. I always play hard and work hard so I try to set a good example, too.” The team began the year 0-4 but has gone 10-5 since then. B-C has played a tough non-section schedule that included three Class 5A teams, four Class 3A teams plus Class A powers West Greene and undefeated Geibel Catholic. “Everything has come together since that rough start,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve got 12 girls and they’re all such great kids and great teammates, and all very respectful.”
IN THE BEGINNING: Violet began playing basketball in kindergarten. “I think when I got to fifth, sixth grade I realized I was so much taller and bigger and could do post moves. I was playing in the Budd Grebb League at California in seventh grade and was playing against seniors. When I was scoring against them I thought, hey, if I continue to work and push myself and expand my game, I could get pretty good at this.”
DOUBLEHEADER: When asked about her most memorable games. Violet said, “Senior night and the 1,000th point will always stick out to me, of course. But also at our Christmas Tournament we wound up having to play two games in one day and I scored 24 in both games, 48 for the day. That was pretty awesome to be able to do that. One game is a lot so playing two, that was kind of crazy and tiring, but we got two wins so that was great.”
THE OTHER SIDE: Violet has worked as a basketball official the past two years. “I do ref youth basketball, kindergarten through second grade, which is really fun because I get to help young athletes learn how to play basketball,” Violet said. “I have to say I definitely respect the refs a lot more now. It makes you realize how hard officiating actually is. When you’re playing sometimes you’re like I wish they would’ve saw that, but now that I ref I understand how difficult it is to see everything that’s going on.”
ODDS AND ENDS: Violet also has a brother, 26-year-old Timmy, who, like Elizabeth, currently attends Duquesne University. … Violet was a starter on Beth-Center’s section championship volleyball team in the fall and was also a football cheerleader. “It was very cool to experience that in volleyball,” she said. “I was happy to be a part of that.” … She is a fan of Caitlin Clark. “I really like her,” Violet said. “I got to see her twice when she was at Iowa and at the Indiana Fever. That was definitely a great experience to watch a WNBA game.” … Violet was included in the KDKA Super 7 Watch List this season.
Compiled by Rob Burchianti