Trinity girls hold off PT for key section win
McMURRAY – Vitt Emerich picked a pretty good time to make her first basket of the night.
A once comfortable double-digit lead for the Trinity girls basketball team had dwindled to four points late in the fourth quarter, when Emerich found herself alone with the ball beyond the arc and she drained a three that ended any hopes of a Peters Township comeback.
The Hillers went on to win 55-45 in a Class 5A Section 4 game Tuesday night.
“That shot brought the energy back to the team,” Emerich said. “We were up, but they were coming back. We were trying to keep our lead and that shot got us going on defense. We got a stop and got the ball back to seal the game.”
In the nightcap, the Peters Township boys defeated Trinity, 58-44.
Sutton Williamson had a game-high 23 points for Trinity, which improved to 2-2 in section play and 6-2 overall. Peters Township (0-3, 4-4) is still searching for its first section victory.
Beating the defending WPIAL Class 5A champions was a nice boost for the Hillers heading into the Christmas break.
“It shoots up our confidence, but we already knew that we were good enough and that we can beat these teams,” Williamson said.
Trinity scored 15 of the first 17 points in the game and led by 10 at halftime, but Peters Township got the deficit down to six at the end of the third quarter.
Taylor McCullough had eight of Peters Township’s 13 points in the quarter and Jordyn Welsh had the other five, including a three at the Buzzer.
A layup by Kimani Behrens restored the Trinity lead to eight points with 4:22 remaining, but McCullough hit one of two free throws and Welsh sank a three-pointer to cut it to 48-44.
That was as close as Peters Township would get, because Emerich hit her three on the next possession.
Emerich seemingly had all day to shoot, which can sometimes be a detriment, but she drained the shot with confidence.
“Sometimes if you’re that open you can think about it, but I was just ready to let it fly,” Emerich said.
Trinity came out of the gates on fire. Behrens had eight points in the first quarter to pace the Hillers to a 16-4 lead. McCullough had all four points for the Indians in the frame.
Slow starts have plagued the Indians this season and that was the case again Tuesday.
“Unfortunately that’s been a trend for us,” Peters Township coach Steve Limberiou said. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out as a coaching staff. They did all the things we thought they’d do on defense, but for whatever reason we haven’t started games with the level of physicality and effort needed to have success. We’re chasing uphill and that’s hard to do in section games.”
A Bri Morreale three-pointer cut the lead to 16-7 at the beginning of the second quarter, but Williamson responded with a three of her own that sparked a quick 8-0 run.
Gabby Rieg hit a layup in transition and followed that up with a three-pointer, forcing a Peters Township timeout.
The Indians started to rally late in the second quarter, cutting Trinity’s lead to seven points on three occasions, the last on a turnaround shot in the paint by Mara Radulovich, but Williamson capped an impressive second quarter by making a tough layup while being fouled and canned the free throw. That gave the Hillers a 35-25 lead going into the break.
Williamson had 12 points in the second.
Peters Township was without senior starter Alina Sopko because of injury, but Limberiou said that she’d be back for Peters Township’s next game, which is Monday December 29 against Norwin.
“Not having her tonight made a significant difference, there’s no doubt,” Limberiou said.
McCullough had 20 points to lead the Indians.
Peters Township, 58-44
Behind a game-high 20 points from Dylan Donovan Peters Township improved to 2-1 in Class 5A Section 4 play with a victory over Trinity.
It was a three-point game entering the fourth quarter, but a strong frame by Jayden Greco helped the Indians stay in front.
Greco had nine points in the quarter and 17 for the game.
It was a five-point game with 2:50 remaining, but Trinity’s Ian Migyanko received an intentional foul for taking down Jake Wetzel on a rebound. Wetzel canned both free throws, and following a timeout, Cooper Donovan received a pass inside for an uncontested layup to make it 53-44.
Peters Township led 25-21 at halftime and the lead swelled to eight in the third quarter, but Andrew Selway sank a three-pointer for Trinity at the buzzer to cut it 40-37 heading into the fourth.
Selway scored 16 points for the Hillers (1-3, 2-6) and sank four threes.