Trinity earns spot in PIAA playoffs
Rob Burchianti
Trinity’s Eden Williamson (20) scores against Penn-Trafford during Monday night’s WPIAL Class 5A consolation game at Hiller Hall.
Trinity's Eden Williamson (20) directs traffic during Monday night's WPIAL Class 5A consolation game against Penn-Trafford at Hiller Hall.
Trinity's Sam Horne hits a 3-pointer in front of Penn-Trafford's Olivia Pepple during Monday night's WPIAL Class 5A consolation game at Hiller Hall.
Trinity's Ruby Morgan shoots a 3-pointer over Penn-Trafford's Tori DeStefano during Monday night's WPIAL Class 5A consolation game at Hiller Hall.
Trinity's Riley Corrins (23) dribbles up court as Penn-Trafford's Isabella Klobucar defends during Monday night's WPIAL Class 5A consolation game at Hiller Hall.
When the WPIAL basketball playoffs reach the quarterfinal stage, the postseason turns into something similar to baseball – three strikes and you’re out.
The Trinity girls team took strike 1 in the quarterfinals last week when Woodland Hills rallied in the fourth quarter to edge in Hillers and knock them into the consolation rounds, where one of the four quarterfinal losers will be eliminated from the postseason.
Trinity, however, didn’t wait to take strike 2.
Senior Eden Williamson scored 15 of her game-high 23 points in the second half as Trinity fought off Penn-Trafford for a 62-59 victory in a Class 5A consolation Monday night.
The win clinches a PIAA tournament berth for the Hillers (17-7). They will play Mars (17-7) in the fifth-place game Thursday night at a site to be determined.
“Knowing we’re going to states – not that we don’t want to win the next one – but knowing we have more games to play, we can play with more freedom and less stress,” said Williamson.
Trinity head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller agreed that some pressure is gone knowing that her team will not be the one WPIAL quarterfinalist left out of the PIAA tournament.
“We put ourselves in a really good position by winning this game,” she said. “I’ve been coaching high school ball for four years and the playoff format has been different every year. This format (full consolations) I like the best. Teams have to earn their sport in the state tournament.”
Trinity earned its berth but it wasn’t easy. The Hillers led by as many as nine points in the second and fourth quarters but Penn-Trafford (16-9) battled back. The Warriors, who have only two seniors on the roster and start one freshman, three sophomores and a junior, scored the final eight points of the first half to tie the score at 31-31.
The teams traded the lead four times late in the third quarter before Sam Horne’s 1-hander put the Hillers up for good at 44-43. Williamson then banked in a 12-footer at the buzzer to give the Hillers a three-point lead heading to the fourth.
Riley Corrins opened the fourth quarter with a clutch three-pointer and the Hillers led by six.
The Trinity lead again surged to nine points before Penn-Trafford, which received 19 points from Olivia Pepple and 13 from Lauren Martin, made one final surge.
The Hillers were able to run one minute off the fourth-quarter clock before Agatha Niccolai made two free throws to give Trinity a 58-51 lead with 1:15 to play. Nicolai would add a layup with 39 seconds left that again made it a seven-point game.
Pepple made a free throw and a driving basket around a Trinity missed one-and-one to pull Penn-Trafford, which was out of timeouts, to within 60-59 with less than 10 seconds remaining. With the Warriors’ coaches calling for their players to foul, Trinity was able to rush the ball upcourt for a layup by Corrins with two seconds left.
Corrins finished with seven points, one of five Hillers to score from six to nine points.
“We’ve found that a few of our players have gone from viewing themselves as role players to being players who now want to take the big shot or get to the free-throw line in key situations,” McConnell-Miller said.
But even with everyone contributing, Trinity needed Williamson the most and she delivered. She scored 11 points in the third quarter and four more in the fourth.
“I’m proud of Eden with the way she handled herself,” McConnell-Miller said. “This was one of the few times this year she put the team on her back. She has battled through injuries all season and played through injuries. These last two games we’ve seen the player Eden really is. She’s starting to be the player we knew she could be.”