Jan 28, 2022 4 min read

This past Thursday, the Trinity girls basketball team remained undefeated in Class 5A Section 3 and had to sweat a little to do so, winning a 37-33 grinder at Thomas Jefferson.

Trinity’s 20th straight section win was the first by single digits.

To put it bluntly, Trinity owns its section.

To put it a little more colorfully, the Hillers are Usain Bolt, and the rest of Class 5A Section 3 are jars of molasses.

The Hillers’ 20 straight wins are by a 49-point average, and the first 19 wins were by double digits. This season, Trinity won’t lose in section barring a calamity, with its final three section games being against teams the Hillers have already handled. Trinity (13-1) hosts Uniontown (5-8) at noon Saturday.

The fact that Trinity is rarely in danger of losing in its section means that coach Kathy McConnell-Miller needs to schedule challenging non-section games to prepare her team for the postseason.

Sure, the Hillers roll through some of their non-league games – an 85-12 win over Washington back in December is a good example. But looking through Trinity’s past two regular seasons, there’s no doubt that the most compelling games the Hillers have played in have been away from Section 3.

Trinity’s only regular-season losses over the past two seasons were at Class 6A Norwin last year and against Chartiers Valley, the No. 1 team in 5A, this season in a tournament at North Allegheny High School.

Some of the Hillers’ biggest highlights of the two years have been in non-section games. That’s where they ended Chartiers Valley’s state-record 64-game winning streak last January and where they beat eventual Class 6A state champion North Allegheny last February.

Without quality non-section opponents, Trinity’s regular seasons would be a compilation of slaughterings and running clocks. For McConnell-Miller, playing quality out-of-section opponents is about more than just making the regular season more exciting. It’s about the big picture.

“I think these matchups going forward for us, they kind of scatter them throughout our section play,” McConnell-Miller said after her team’s 60-53 win over McKeesport (now 13-4) earlier this month in a non-section game.

“I just think the more we’re challenged, the better prepared we’re going to be for the postseason. I think (McKeesport is) a great 5A team, and that we can meet again. We have some other opponents kind of scattered at the end of the season as well.”

Although the Hillers beat McKeesport and led through almost the entire game, McConnell-Miller felt that the Tigers did a good job dictating the game’s flow. Trinity was never able to take over the game with its vaunted full-court press. Although part of that was because super sophomore Maddy Roberts not being available, McConnell also credited McKeesport for not allowing Trinity to do what it usually does.

With different quality opponents come different styles, and the more the Hillers get used to those styles in the regular season, the less susceptible they’ll be to getting caught off guard in the playoffs. The Hillers have already clinched a WPIAQL playoff berth.

“Guarding different styles, guarding different girls,” senior Alyssa Clutter said. “There’s a couple girls on (McKeesport) that brought. We’ve had to guard some different things with different sizes and things like that. Just that preparation, I think, definitely builds us as a team to prepare ourselves for the playoffs.”

Trinity’s next three games are all in section play. After that, the Hillers face a mini-gauntlet when they take on Oakland Catholic (10-5) on the road Feb. 8, and host South Fayette (12-3) at Hiller Hall Feb. 12.

Trinity is one of two teams in Class 5A that have made it to the WPIAL championship game over the past two seasons, and its seven playoff wins are second to Chartiers Valley. Despite success in the regular and postseason, Trinity is still chasing a WPIAL championship. If the Hillers finally reach the top of that mountain, preparing themselves with quality non-section opponents before the playoffs is likely something McConnell-Miller would credit for it.

“I just think they’re important to kind of gauge where you are, create great matchups, and, you know, bring some teams to Hiller Hall that we’re not seeing throughout the section,” she said.