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Clutter breaks through milestone in Trinity’s win

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The Trinity High School girls basketball team had the mathematics of the game figured out long ago – three points beats two points any night of the week.

And Tuesday night, in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs, 1,000 beat everything.

Trinity point guard Alyssa Clutter scored 24 points, including her 1,000th career point, and Ruby Morgan made six of the Hillers’ 11 three-point field goals in a 70-49 thumping of Armstrong at Hiller Hall.

The win sends third-seeded Trinity (18-5) into the quarterfinals Friday night against sixth-seeded McKeesport (19-4), a 66-43 winner over Albert Gallatin. The Hillers defeated McKeesport 60-53 in a non-section game in January.

Seven of the eight quarterfinalists from the WPIAL will advance to the state tournament.

Trinity was in control throughout as Clutter, who entered the night 10 points shy of 1,000, scored the needed points in the opening quarter. Her driving basket as time expired in the quarter gave the Hillers a 22-13 lead and her the grand total.

“I felt like we ran a lot of sets for me,” Clutter said. “My priority wasn’t getting 1,000, it was to get a win. If I didn’t get 1,000 tonight and we won, then I could get it Friday.”

Clutter scores the bulk of her points on daring drives to the basket, backdoor cuts and fast-break layups instead of three-point shots. In other words, she reached 1,000 points the hard way.

“Then take into consideration our season was cut short two years ago because of the pandemic,” Trinity coach Cathy McConnell-Miller is quick to point out. “Plus, last year they only took district champions to the state tournament.”

Trinity stayed home because the Hillers were the WPIAL runner-up.

“So Alyssa did it in fewer games than she could have played,” McConnell-Miller said. “She’s just so very effective for us.”

Everybody in the lineup was effective for Trinity against Armstrong (13-10), the fourth-place team out of Section 2. The Hillers made seven of 11 three-point shots in the first half, which ended with Trinity ahead 40-24. For the game, Trinity was 11-for-24 from behind the arc.

“They made an adjustment defensively on me,” Clutter pointed out. “They picked me up at the three-point line instead at half-court. So when a defender would collapse on me, I was able to kick the ball out of the open shooter.”

That was often Morgan. The sophomore sharpshooter made five three-pointers in the first half, including consecutive treys in each of the first two quarters. All of Morgan’s 18 points came on three-point shots.

“Ruby is one of our best three-point shooters,” Clutter said. “We can rely on her in the bigger games. She knows what she’s good at and she shoots the three with confidence.”

Confidence was something Armstrong might have been running short on, especially after 6-1 center Kyla Fitzgerald picked up her third foul late in the first half. Fitzgerald had used her height advantage to keep Armstrong within striking distance of Trinity in the first half.

Morgan opened the second half with her sixth three-point basket, and Macie Justice, who finished with 11 points and three three-point field goals, added one midway through the quarter that gave Trinity a 50-27 lead. The River Hawks never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

Fitzgerald led Armstrong in scoring with 18 points and point guard Emma Paul had 16.

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