Dec 10, 2016 4 min read

Having the ability to take a lead and fail to give it up is something that Trinity High School girls head basketball coach Bob Miles remembers wasn’t one of the Hillers’ strong points two years ago.

Now, with two veteran guards, junior Alayna Cappelli and senior Sierra Kotchman, Miles embraces watching the clock continue to move with any lead, big or small.

After a 13-point run over the course of three minutes in the second quarter – giving the Hillers a commanding lead – Miles was able to do just that as Trinity carefully ran its half-court offense on the way to a 57-43 win over Canon-McMillan in Saturday night’s tournament championship game at Hiller Hall.

“We just wanted to play good competition at the beginning of the season,” Miles said. “There was a point in time where we weren’t mentally tough enough to come out and play in that type of game. I think we are getting over that. This is only going to help that mental toughness.”

Trinity’s 21-point second quarter was ended by a jumper from Kotchman at the buzzer, putting the Hillers ahead 32-20.

“Our defense was not very good, especially in that second quarter,” said C-M coach Lou Waller III. “We just got out of what we do. We were jumping our defenders and leaving people wide open. That’s not how it’s taught or what we are supposed to do. It game them some easy buckets.”

After failed attempts to diminish Trinity’s lead, an acrobatic layup from C-M’s Kierra King cut the deficit to 47-39 with only 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the following possession, a disagreement of a foul called against the Big Macs not only sent Waller’s suit coat flying over the C-M bench but Trinity (2-0) to the line to connect on all four of its free throws after a technical foul.

“It’s something that we definitely work on all the time,” said Miles. “We actually talked about it before the game. The team that makes their foul shots, especially in the fourth quarter, is the team that’s going to win the basketball game. When we have that lead it allows you to get the ball in the right hands.”

The Hillers played keepaway for much of the fourth quarter, daring C-M (1-1) to send them to the foul line, where they were 25 of 28.

Using a different method than its first-round game, where most of the offensive came from Kotchman, Trinity spread the wealth with three players scoring in double figures. Freshman Riley DeRubbo recorded game-highs with 16 points and eight rebounds. Kotchman and senior forward Abbey O’Connor each scored 12 points.

“We’re geared to have a balanced attack,” said Miles. “We want to try and get four players in double figures each night. Tonight, we just had a bunch of people knocking down shots.”

For the majority of six quarters to begin the season, Chartiers-Houston didn’t look like group that returned its entire starting lineup from a year ago.

The second half in the consolation game against Moon changed that slow start as senior forward Alexa Williamson’s double-double led C-H to its first win of the season, 45-35.

In her second game back from a knee injury that ended last season, Williamson was a problem for Moon (0-2). After only leaving the floor for a portion of the second quarter with eye issue, she scored 21 points and collected 18 rebounds.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” she said of being a mainstay on the sidelines for much of the Bucs’ 2015-16 season. “Not only does my knee feel great but it’s the best feeling that I can have an effect on this team.”

Joining Williamson with an impressive performance was C-H (1-1) forward Keaira Walker, who had 10 points and 14 rebounds.

“We need to play our game,” Williamson said about the message from head coach Laura Montecalvo after Friday night’s disappointing performance. “We didn’t do that last night. Tonight, we did that.”