Hitting the right note: TJ pulls away from Trinity in the second half for key win
As an awkward silence started to linger at Hiller Hall while technical difficulties were being worked out with getting the National Anthem to play on the public address system.
Then the players on both the Trinity and Thomas Jefferson girls basketball teams made a request.
“Let’s just sing it,” the girls started suggesting to each other.
That’s what they did.
Standing beside their respective benches, the girls from both teams belted out the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner with a little help from the three officials and the coaches.
Once the game tipped off the two teams continued the theme, by staying close together on the scoreboard for a half.
But it was Thomas Jefferson that ended the night on a high note.
The Jaguars pulled away in the third quarter and remained unbeaten in Class 5A Section 4 with a 48-39 victory over the Hillers Tuesday.
“How special was that?” Thomas Jefferson girls basketball coach Matt Gould said about the teams singing the anthem. “I thought it was amazing. Hopefully somebody recorded it and put it on (social media). You could tell they were itching to do it.”
Thomas Jefferson improved to 8-0 in section and 15-2 overall. Trinity fell to 5-3 and 12-4.
The Jaguars led by three at halftime, but used a 17-8 advantage in the third to stretch the lead to double digits.
Maggie Spell had eight of her game-high 22 points in the third, including a three-pointer and a steal followed by a layup that gave Thomas Jefferson its first double-digit lead at 30-19.
The Jaguars limited the Hillers to two field goals in the third, both by Sutton Williamson and took a 33-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
“Our coaching is starting to work a little bit,” Gould said. “We’re trying to remove all the variables and be as solid as we can on the defensive end. Clearly, tonight it worked a little bit and that’s a good (Trinity) team that we played.”
Thomas Jefferson maintained its double-digit lead until Kimari Berhens made a free throw with 35 seconds remaining.
That cut the lead to nine, but that’s as close as Trinity would get.
“Matt does such a good job with them defensively that it made it hard to score the basketball tonight, especially in the third quarter,” Trinity coach Bill Poletti said. “We were down three at halftime and just had a hard time scoring and they were able to pull away. Maggie (Spell) and Riley (McCabe) are two really good guards and then back it up with Allie (Wilson) in the middle and that’s a tough trio to go against. We have some things to work on to get better, but the credit goes to TJ tonight, for sure.”
A basket inside off an inbounds play by Behrens in the final seconds gave Trinity an 8-6 lead at the end of a physical first quarter.
Maggie Spell hit a three-pointer to give Thomas Jefferson a 6-3 lead, but Sutton Williamson nailed a step back three on Trinity’s next possession to tie the score.
The physicality remained and was partly why the second quarter was also low scoring. A late three-pointer by Emily Hritz gave Thomas Jefferson a 16-13 lead into halftime.
Williamson finished with 13 points. Humphreys had nine and the sophomore showed some good touch around the rim.
“Gabby has really come along and has done a great job for us,” Poletti said. “She’s continuing to grow and get better every day with us. It’s going to be fun to watch her career here at Trinity.”
The Hillers were without starting guard Gabby Rieg, who is out with an arm injury. She sustained the injury in Trinity’s last game against Bethel Park. Rieg, a three-point sharpshooter, was described as day-to-day by Poletti.
Boys result
Thomas Jefferson 71, Trinity 52
Justin Fry had a game-high 30 points and Nicholas Trklja scored 25 to lead Thomas Jefferson (8-0, 16-1) to a 71-52 win against Trinity (2-6, 4-10) in a Class 5A Section 3 game.
The Jaguars led by six at halftime and put the game away with a 21-8 margin in the third quarter. Fry had 12 points in the frame.
Landon Conn led Trinity with 14 points. Jonah Williamson contributed 13 points and Andrew Selway scored 12.