Bozek’s career night leads Trinity over Peters Township
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Trinity’s Marlaina Bozek (21) enjoys the Hillers’ win over Peters Township. Bozek had a team-leading 22 points in the 66-53 victory over the Indians.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo drives during a regular-season game against Peters Township. DeRubbo was named third team all-state Monday.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Marlaina Bozek follows a rebound with an outlet pass from the baseline in Trinity’s game Monday against Peters Township. Bozek scored 22 of Trinity’s points in the 66-53 victory.
Mark Marietta/for the Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s Journey Thompson scored 33 points aginst Chartiers Valley Saturday.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Riley DeRubbo puts up two of her 21 points in the Hillers’ 66-53 victory over Peters Township.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter
Trinity’s Marlaina Bozek drives toward her team-leading 22 points in a victory over Peters Township.
The center of Marlaina Bozek’s back met the second row of wooden bleachers while following through on a layup late in the first quarter.
Wincing in pain from the hard collision, she hustled back to play defense with the rest of her Trinity High School girls basketball teammates.
Nothing was going to stop Bozek Monday night.
Playing with a shortened lineup because of injuries, Bozek picked a perfect time to have a career night. Scoring in all types of ways, Bozek finished with a team-high 22 points and six rebounds to help Trinity pull away in the third quarter to defeat visiting Peters Township, 66-53, in a non-section game at Hiller Hall.
“Every time I’m given a challenge, I want to work hard at it,” Bozek said. “I will put my all into it. I will face any challenge that I get.”
With Trinity’s tallest player Courtney Dahlquist sidelined, the task most of the night for Bozek was either trying to score on or defend Peters Township standout sophomore center Journey Thompson.
She took that challenge and ran with it, scoring 15 points in the first half as Thompson sat with foul trouble. Bozek then sparked a 13-2 run for Trinity (2-1) in the third quarter that allowed the Hillers to pull away.
Bozek hit a baseline jumper with 5:17 left in the third, made a pair of free throws and hit another shot perpendicular to the basket that helped extend Trinity’s lead from two points to 13 points by the end of the quarter, 51-38.
“They out-hustled us. Plain and simple,” said Peters Township coach Bert Kendall. “We are having defensive breakdowns that we have to fix. All three games we’ve scored enough points to win but we’re not holding teams down. We have to get back to the drawing board because what we are doing right now isn’t acceptable.”
Peters Township (1-2) fell behind by as much as nine points with just under two minutes left in the second quarter. Thompson, who scored a game-high 23 points and collected 10 rebounds, and Avana Sayles dominated the final two-and-a-half minutes to trim the halftime deficit to one point, 33-32.
Sayles had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The momentum for the Indians stopped quickly after halftime as Trinity dominated the third quarter, outscoring Peters Township 18-6.
“In the first half, we needed to get a cushion with Journey on the bench,” said Trinity coach Kathy McConnell-Miller. “When she came back, she sped us up a little bit. Our kids felt the pressure. At halftime, the big adjustment was we wanted to make them defend a little longer. We wanted to make them guard possession after possession and tax them. When you make teams guard for long periods of time, they have breakdowns.”
The defensive breakdowns for the Indians led to Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo scoring 14 of her 21 points in the second half. Freshman Eden Williamson added 10 points.
Four Hillers ended the night with at least four rebounds, crashing the glass and hustling after loose balls as a team.
“We all bring something to the team,” Bozek said. “My main role through the first three games has been rebounding. I always set a goal for myself. It doesn’t matter how tall the player I’m going against is. We had a few people down today. I knew I was going to have to pick it up.”
Bozek led all Hillers with six rebounds.
“Rebounding is an art,” McConnell-Miller said. “You need players who want to rebound and Marlaina really set the tone. I learned real quick the first time I worked with her that she is a hustler. When it’s a 50-50 ball, she is going to come up with it. She brings it every night. It’s contagious.”