Chartiers Valley too much for Trinity, again
Eleanor Bailey/the Almanac
Courtney Dahlquist (13) is about to have the ball stripped from her hands by Megan McConnell (4).
Eleanor Bailey
Emily Venick (1) and Ashley Durig (back) battle Aislin Malcolm for a loose ball during Trinity’s 67-48 loss to Chartiers Valley.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Trinity’s Kaylin Venick (2) makes her move to the basket after getting a step on Chartiers Valley’s Aislin Malcolm in a game earlier this season.
Eleanor Bailey
Kathy McConnell cannot believe the call during Trinity’s 67-48 loss to Chartiers Valley.
Eleanor Bailey
Alyssa Clutter (24) is call for a charge against Abby Vaites.
Trinity's Emily Venick gets a bloody nose during a game against Chartiers Valley earlier this season. The Hillers are in search of their first WPIAL title in program history.
By Eleanor Bailey/Almanac Sports Editor/ebailey@thealmanac.net
Riley DeRubbo finds her path blocked by Megan McConnell and loses the basketball during Trinity girls’ basketball against Chartiers Valley.
BRIDGEVILLE – Watching her defender crash to the floor, Aislin Malcolm stepped back to five feet beyond the three-point line and launched a shot.
She did it while ever so cool, calm and collected, but maybe more importantly, she did it confidently.
Megan McConnell had the same approach off a screen two quarters later. She had the same through-the-roof confidence, one you would have if you have won 47 straight games, and her shot had the same result as Malcolm’s – a nothing-but-nylon swish.
Maybe the Trinty girls basketball team doesn’t know the answer – the last 48 games Chartiers Valley has played nobody has had the answer to beating the Colts.
Maybe it just wasn’t the Hillers night. Trinity led 8-2 early before falling victim to 20 turnovers.
Or maybe Chartiers Valley is just better.
For the fifth time in the last two years, Chartiers Valley imposed its will and got the better of Trinity, 67-48, to extend the Colts’ winning streak to 48 and earn coach Tim McConnell’s his 600th career victory Monday night.
“It’s the toughest starting five that you’re going to face,” said Trinity coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, the Chartiers Valley coach’s sister. “I think they are one of the most dangerous teams in the WPIAL. Their starting five is exceptional. They have five players on the floor who can shoot, get to the rim and score.”
All five, and Abby Vaites off the bench, proved just how much of a headache the Colts can be. Three different players scored in double figures, four had at least one three-pointer and Chartiers Valley (11-0, 18-0) flexed its unbeaten muscles with two first-half runs and never looked back.
Trailing by six points midway through the first quarter, Hallie Cowan and McConnell made a pair of three-pointers to spark a 12-0 CV run and as the Colts took a six-point lead in less than three minutes.
After Trinity (9-2, 13-3) cut the deficit to one point, 19-18, on a floater from Kaylin Venick with 4:15 left in the second quarter, the Colts answered as Malcolm hit the step-back three that ignited an eight-point run.
“When you get on runs like that it opened up the game for us,” McConnell said. “The first time we played I didn’t feel like we hit big shots until the fourth quarter. Tonight, we made some shots that helped us get into the flow and do what we wanted to do.”
Chartiers Valley could seemingly do whatever it wanted on offense, especially on designed pick plays beyond the three-point line. Many of the Colts’ seven-three points were on wide-open looks, including one by Vaites with 27 seconds left in the first half that gave Chartiers Valley a 30-20 lead at halftime.
“Trinity started out like gangbusters, but I told our girls to just keep their poise,” McConnell said. “We stayed the course. We did some things differently after watching film from when we played them the last time. We saw some things that could help us get open shots and they worked.”
If the Colts weren’t making threes, Megan McConnell typically found an offensive possession ending from the free-throw line. The youngest McConnell on the court made 13 free throws and finished with a game-high 21 points.
Five players scored at least eight points for Chartiers Valley, including 14 by Cowan and Malcolm chipping in 11. Perri Page scored four points but grabbed 10 rebounds to dominate the post.
“It’s a 32-minute game,” McConnell Miller said, “and I thought by the end of it some of our girls got tired. (Chartiers Valley) is tough to guard. They are great in the open court, great on dribble drives.
“I thought our girls got a little frustrated when they went on their runs. I think in turn we settled for a lot of threes, which is traditionally not our strength. Those threes led to long rebounds and allowed them to control the tempo.”
Trinity was forced to play some of the second half without Riley DeRubbo, who picked up her third foul driving to the basket with less than one second left in the first half. She was given her fourth foul with 3:06 left in the third quarter.
Alyssa Clutter led the Hillers with a hard-earned 17 points, the only Trinity player to finish in double figures. Courtney Dahlquist had nine points against the suffocating Colts defense, which turned 12 second-half turnovers into a comfortable lead in the final 16 minutes.
It was only the second time this season Trinity was held to fewer than 50 points.
“I thought our defensive effort was tremendous tonight,” McConnell said, holding onto a decorative basketball after being honored afterward. “We did a great job getting into gaps. Overall, I’m really pleased with how we defended them.”