Trinity hoops teams go through roller-coaster start to postseason
The roller coaster metaphor is oft-used in sports, but it certainly fits the last week of Trinity High School basketball. From the lows of the girls team making an unexpected exit in the bi-district round against DeSoto, to the high of the boys punching a postseason ticket in dramatic fashion, the ride was undoubtedly a tense and exciting one.
The first loop came last Tuesday, when Trinity and DeSoto met at Arlington Bowie High School for a bi-district rematch from a year ago. This time, the Lady Trojans entered on a 13-game win streak and as undefeated District 7-6A champions. But DeSoto, the fourth seed from 8-6A, had revenge and upset on its mind as the Lady Eagles pulled off a 44-42 win.
“I knew it was going to be really tough and we had upset them last year, so I think there was probably a little revenge on their part,” Lady Trojans coach Sue Cannon said.
Trinity didn’t do itself any favors, making just 8 of 15 free throws and shooting a mere 14 percent from beyond the three-point line. It also didn’t help that leading scorer and district MVP Trinity Oliver was ill and vomiting much of the day.
“It was just a bad night all the way around,” Cannon said. “We’ve played so much better. We’re happy about being undefeated in district but I didn’t want it to end there, and I don’t want the kids to be satisfied with an undefeated district season.”
Three days later, though, the boys took the home court against rivals L.D. Bell in a District 7-6A play-in game. The scenario was simple: Win and advance to the playoffs. The teams split the two previous meetings this season, and it was fitting this one would come down to the final three seconds.
Trailing 55-54 with 2.9 seconds remaining, the Trojans ran an inbound play from under the basket that freed Derrick Guinn for a short jumper that dropped through the bottom of the net as time expired, sending students streaming onto the floor – and more importantly, sending Trinity to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, a first in school history.
“Certainly it’s a game of inches. I’m trying to make the boys realize that at our level, games are going to come down to one or two possessions virtually every night,” head coach Mark Villines said. “To win it like that and have the kids make the right reads on the play in that environment was nice for them.”
It wasn’t just the week, but the entire season that was a roller coaster for the Trojans. In fact, Villines described it as the most turbulent in his 20 years of coaching.
“I don’t know that at every moment we deserved to be in the playoffs,” he said. “But the gratifying piece is that despite the ups and downs, all the close losses — because from a mental standpoint it was extremely grinding and I know it had to be grinding on the kids — to see that we had the opportunity for a second chance and to see the kids do it. And especially to see them do it in a way that they’ll probably remember for the rest of their lives. That’s got to be pretty neat for them.”
The boys’ reward is their own bi-district date with DeSoto (29-2) on Tuesday at Mansfield High School (check dfwvarsity.com for results), where they’ll be clear underdogs against the state’s No. 4 team.
“Obviously DeSoto is a phenomenal team and they’re well coached,” Villines said. “It’s going to be a monumental challenge.”
But Villines also has plenty of examples to draw from to show upsets are possible.
“You can look at the girls. You can look at us two years ago when we had Myles Turner and had won 27 games,” Villines said, pointing to when the Trojans lost to fourth-seed Coppell in the bi-district round.
In a season of ups and downs, it wouldn’t surprise any of the players or coaches if there were still more loops ahead.
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Trinity hoops teams go through roller-coaster start to postseason."