Lady Trojans suffer first loss in 11 games

The Trinity girls basketball team nearly got its second tournament win in as many tries this season by getting to the finals of last week’s Flower Mound tournament, where they met the Lady Jaguars, ranked No. 6 in Class 6A, and Baylor commit Lauren Cox. Cox’s presence in the lane deterred many of the scoring looks the undersized Lady Trojans are used to getting, and the Lady Jags gave the Lady Trojans (10-1) their first loss of the season in the championship round.

“They took it well,” Trinity coach Sue Cannon said. “We played a really good Flower Mound team, and the size of Cox inside kind of intimidated us, so we didn’t shoot the ball well, and there were too many turnovers. But we still only lost by six, so there are some encouraging signs there.”

Guard Trinity Oliver actually led all scorers with 20 points in the loss, and Cox had 19 for Flower Mound (9-2).

The Lady Trojans will host Mansfield Lake Ridge and Arlington Sam Houston this week.

Boys hit the road

The Trinity boys basketball team has entered the “Road Warrior” portion of its schedule. After runing off wins at Arlington Lamar and Keller Fossil Ridge last week, the Trojans (3-0) leave Wednesday for the Doug McCutchen Memorial tournament hosted by San Angelo Central.

They follow up the tourney with games at Denton Guyer and Birdville before participating in another tournament before District 7-6A play starts. It’s a stretch of 12 games and a month and a half between home games for Trinity that coach Mark Villines said would tell him and his coaching staff exactly where the Trojans stand.

“We’ll get in about nine games here in the next couple weeks and really get going,” Villines said. “It gives us an opportunity to focus only on basketball, only on the opponent across from us for a while.”

Against Lamar, guard Devin Newton nearly cashed in a rare quadruple-double, coming up one steal and two assists short. The junior finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds, nine steals and eight assists, while his partner in the back court, Jhivvan Jackson, added 15 in the 71-47 win.

“He was out of his mind,” Villines said.

Jackson then outdueled Ridge guard Braylyn Lovelace, who had 18 points himself, by leading all scorers with 22 points in the 66-55 win before the Thanksgiving break.

The Trojans drew Abilene Wylie in Thursday’s first round of San Angelo’s Central’s McCutchen Memorial bracket. The matchup pits Trinity against another of Class 4A’s elite. Wylie is undefeated and comes into the tourney ranked No. 7 in Class 4A in the current Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll.

Wylie has win over one Class 6A opponent already and two wins over 5A teams.

Trinity beat another top-level Class 4A program, Wichita Falls Hirschi, 61-59 on Jackson’s step-back jumper with one second left on the clock in the season-opener.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Lady Trojans suffer first loss in 11 games."