Family matters: Trinity lets lead slip, falls to rival Chartiers Valley
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Riley DeRubbo drives into the teeth of the Chartiers Valley defense but is stopped by Hallie Cowan (23).
Eleanor Bailey E
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Trinity head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller and her brother, Chartiers Valley head coach Tim McConnell, talk prior to a Class 5A girls basketball game.
Eleanor Bailey
Alyssa Clutter (24) attempts to put up a shot against Perri Page (25).
By Eleanor Bailey/Almanac Sports Editor/ebailey@thealmanac.net
Alyssa Clutter (24) battles Chartiers Valley players for a rebound.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Trinity girls basketball coach Kathy McConnell-Miller pleads her case to one of the officials. McConnell-Miller is leaving Trinity after two seasons.
Eleanor Bailey
Courtney Dahlquist (13) attempts to put up a shot against the Chartiers Valley defense.
A little bit of fatigue, a lapse in execution or the tongue lashing defending state champion Chartiers Valley received from coach Tim McConnell between the third and fourth quarters changed everything.
There was a lot Trinity girls basketball coach Kathy McConnell-Miller could have pointed to that went wrong in such a short amount of time.
The two-point lead Trinity held entering the fourth quarter against Chartiers Valley – the defending PIAA Class 5A champion and winner of 38 consecutive games – had the Colts against the ropes.
Then it all fell apart.
Turning the ball over four times in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, the Hillers allowed Chartiers Valley to go on an 11-point run and kept its long winning streak intact with a 62-56 win in Class 5A Section 1 Thursday night at Hiller Hall.
“Our whole premise this week was don’t come off their shooters,” said McConnell-Miller. “They made us guard for a while, so I think fatigue set in. They were really effective with their drive-and-kick offense. We couldn’t leave shooters open. We left shooters open.”
The few times Trinity (3-1, 7-2) gave that space in the fourth, the Colts made sure to take advantage. Trailing 41-39 entering the final eight minutes, the Colts’ Megan McConnell scored five consecutive points. Chartiers Valley then hit a trio of three-pointers, including a pair of baseline jumpers from Hallie Cowan, to take a 53-42 lead with 3:18 remaining.
The Colts, whose winning streak extended to 39 as they remained unbeaten at 3-0 in the section and 9-0 overall, made the three game-changing three-pointers and went 10-for-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
“Trinity played great,” said Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell, who was coaching against his sister for the first time.
“They took us out of our stuff. They scouted us. They have everyone back from last year and a healthy Riley DeRubbo. You know they are a good team. I don’t think we played the way we’ve played all year. We played a little tentative. But I couldn’t be prouder of our girls and the way they persevered and fought back.”
The Colts rallied after McConnell’s emotions seemingly busted through his grey dress shirt and through his black suit between the third and fourth quarters. Whatever McConnell’s message to his team was, the Colts understood and executed the plan.
Aislin Malcolm and Megan McConnell, the two leading scorers for Chartiers Valley entering the night, came alive in the fourth quarter. Malcolm scored nine of her team-high 20 points. McConnell doubled her total and finished with 14 points. Cowan hit four threes and to finish with 18 points.
“We don’t really look at the scoreboard and panic,” Megan McConnell said. “From going undefeated last year, everybody is after us. Everybody wants to give us our first loss. Every team wants to beat us. Every team is going to play us and do everything to do that. We just have to want it 10 times more.”
Trinity nearly erased its second 11-point deficit of the night by trimming the Colts’ late fourth-quarter lead to one possession following a steal and score from Alyssa Clutter that made it 57-54 with 44 seconds left.
That was as close as the Hillers would get.
An early run by Chartiers Valley in the second quarter also put the Hillers behind by double digits. Trinity cut that gap to four points, 29-25, by halftim before taking the narrow advantage into the final quarter.
DeRubbo led all scorers with 24 points. Clutter scored 11 and Courtney Dahlquist, who kept the Hillers in the game with a strong second quarter, had 10.
“There was a lot of excitement beyond it being the first game I’ve coached against my brother,” McConnell-Miller said. “We had our kids prepared. When (Chartiers Valley) gets up on you it’s hard to recover. We started settling (on shots) in the second half. They made adjustments, and we didn’t do what worked in the first half.”
The two teams will meet again Jan. 27 at Chartiers Valley.