Euless Trinity girls basketball to meet DeSoto again in playoffs
With the district title secured, the Trinity girls basketball team is turning its attention to the postseason, which will begin for the Lady Trojans next Tuesday against DeSoto in Arlington, likely either at Arlington High School or Bowie High School.
It’s the second consecutive season Trinity will pair up with DeSoto in bi-district. Last year’s meeting went down to the wire with the Lady Trojans pulling out a 69-67 victory.
“They’re extremely fast and very athletic and good shooters,” Trinity coach Sue Cannon said of DeSoto, which has several returning players from that game last season. “I know it’s going to be a tough game for us.”
Trinity had clinched the 7-6A title prior to last Friday night’s meeting with Southlake Carroll, and whether that led to a letdown or if Cannon’s tinkering disrupted the team’s mojo, something was definitely amiss in the Lady Trojans’ 29-24 win over Carroll – which Cannon called the worst game of the season.
“It was a very strange game, really one that I’m not used to coaching. We couldn’t make free throws; their height really bothered us. We just never got into a rhythm. I’m not even discussing that game with the team,” Cannon said. “We were just never in the game from the start. It was just not pretty. I can’t imagine us playing another game as poorly as we did Friday.
“We did a couple of different things, but to be perfectly honest it didn’t work,” she added. “So we’re probably going back to doing the things we’ve done all year long. We’ve played very good defense and I think that’s the key for us.”
Trinity closed out the regular season Tuesday night against Coppell (check dfwvarsity.com for results) and has a full week before facing DeSoto. Unlike some teams, Trinity will not schedule a warm-up game ahead of bi-district.
“I think we structure our practices as such that I would rather play against our JV boys team,” Cannon explained. “I would rather work on the things after scouting DeSoto that I know we need to work on. When you play someone else, they’re never going to be like the opponent you face. I can have the JV boys be more like the opponent than playing a warm-up game.”
Hoping the Carroll game was an anomaly, Cannon is confident her real team will show up. The coach is certain team leaders Trinity Oliver and Haleigh Talbert will play a major role in that.
Oliver remains among the area leaders in scoring, and Talbert’s execution of the offense continues to earn praise from Cannon.
“Haleigh has been awesome in terms of handling the ball and handling the pressure,” Cannon said. “She goes around and between and through people.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Euless Trinity girls basketball to meet DeSoto again in playoffs."