Lubbock Trinity eliminates Fort Worth Christian girls

By Kevin Casas

Special to the Star-Telegram

MANSFIELD — Beating a team three times in the same season is never easy.

Fort Worth Christian’s girls basketball team got a full dose of that Friday as Lubbock Trinity ousted the Cardinals 62-39 in a TAPPS Class 4A state semifinal at Legacy High School.

Lubbock Trinty (20-11) advances to the title game at noon Saturday, against Austin St. Dominic or Fort Bend Christian at Legacy. Fort Worth Christian ends its season at 25-15.

“I thought they did several things different this time around,” FWC coach Rod Johnnson said of Lubbock Trinity. “Their 3-point shooters are deadly. Their point guard was able to get the kind of penetration to get her shooters the ball and we didn’t handle it.”

Trinity shot 61 percent in the second half, including three crucial 3-pointers that helped sustain a 16-7 run to end the third quarter. That was a stark contrast to FWC’s usual defensive ability.

The Cardinals had held opponents to 35 percent shooting all season.

Trinity point guard Breklyn Wentz had only three points for the game, but she was able to give the Cardinals fits in the lane and in transition to open up the perimeter shooting.

Trinity’s Christen Turner had 19 points to lead all scorers and Shanae Ammons had 17.

FWC went cold in the fourth quarter with only two field goals and none in the final four minutes as Trinity was 7 for 10 from the field.

“We just had a bad day and they did the things you needed to do to win the game,” Cardinals forward Kym Young said. “We’re disappointed, but we came a long way this season and did more than we thought we would.”

FWC got control of the tempo in the second quarter and rallied from a four-point deficit to lead 28-24 at the half.

Olivia Tarbet, who led the Cardinals with 12 points, had three 3-pointers in that run.

Although FWC was more methodical in its shot selection, the pace couldn’t withstand Trinity’s sharpshooting.

“I think it’s really hard to beat a team three times if they are better than you,” Trinity coach Gregg Ammons said. “We thought we were better than them all three games, their girls just got it done. I think our girls were just waiting on me to figure out a game plan that worked.”

Looking for comments?