Trinity ends regular season with sweep

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 29, 2000

It was a tale of two halves for the Trinity Lady Saints in their 47-13 victory over the Centreville Lady Tigers Saturday afternoon.

In the first half, Trinity’s defense held Centreville to a mere two points in the first quarter while the offense got off to a very slow start.

The Lady Saints led 11-6 after one quarter and 19-6 at halftime.

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&uot;The first half was sluggish. We’re better than that,&uot; said Lady Saints head coach Melanie Hall. &uot;We can play better than this no matter who the competition is.&uot;

While the Lady Saints (19-6) forced 11 first-half turnovers, they also committed eight turnovers in the half.

The second half was a complete turnaround for Trinity’s offense while the defense continued to the pressure on the Lady Tigers.

&uot;We came out in the second half with more fire and more enthusiasm,&uot; Hall said. &uot;The defense got going. Defense wins championships. If we play up to our capabilities we’ll be fine.&uot;

Led by Becky Bass, who scored 12 of her game-high 20 points, and Ashley Kingsafer, who had a solid game on offense and defense, the Lady Saints outscored the Lady Tigers 28-7 in the second half for an eventual easy win.

Bass also had six rebounds while Kingsafer had nine points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Nicole Huff led Centreville with four points and Tiffany Lee had three points and three rebounds.

The Lady Saints will play Franklin Academy on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the district tournament, which will be played at Trinity

In the boys contest, Bobby Craig and John Bass made a combined 11 three-pointers as the Saints defeated the Tigers 79-59.

Craig finished with 33 points, hit six threes, and had four rebounds and two blocks. Bass had 23 points, connected on five threes, and had seven rebounds and two steals.

&uot;Bobby and John played real good for us,&uot; said Saints head coach David King. &uot;Kris Thompson also had a good game. Even though he didn’t have the big offensive numbers, he was wonderful on defense. Kris makes us go.&uot;

The outcome of the game wasn’t decided until late in the third quarter, when leading only 52-49 with about 2:30 remaining, Trinity (19-5) went on an 8-2 run to take an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

&uot;It was a good win. To beat a team like Centreville, a AAA team who won its district, it was a big win going into the district tournament.

The Centreville duo of Chris Poole and Justin Simpson kept the Tigers in the game throughout the first half as they combined for 22 of the team’s 35 first-half points and trailed only 38-35 at halftime.

&uot;They’re a big, physical and athletic team,&uot; King said of the Tigers. &uot;We had to make some adjustments at halftime. We extended our zone defense in the second half to keep them from getting the offensive boards.&uot;

The adjustments worked in the second half as the Saints outscored the Tigers (16-7) 22-14 in the third quarter and 19-10 in the fourth quarter. Trinity took its biggest lead, 79-57, with just under a minute to play.

&uot;We were very fortunate to come out with a win and be injury free,&uot; King said.

The Saints are hosting the MPSA 6A Basketball Tournament next week.