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Shorthanded Trinity grinds, finds win

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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

McKeesport's Madeline Cherepko (23) jumps to block Trinity's Alyssa Clutter.

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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

McKeesport's Madeline Cherepko (23) works to get positioned as Trinity's Alyssa Clutter drives to the hoop.

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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

Trinity's Agatha Niccolai (22) leads the cheering from the bench Tuesday night as the Hillers tamed the McKeesport Tigers at Hiller Hall.

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Kristina Bozek

Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

Trinity’s Kristina Bozek pushes a pass past McKeesport’s Brooke Evans.

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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter

Eden Williamson should be a driving force for Trinity’s girls basketball team this season.

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Alyssa Clutter

Mark Marietta/For the O-R

Trinity’s Alyssa Clutter draws a foul against McKeesports’s Madison Miller, then makes the hoop to solidify the Hillers’ fourth-quarter lead Tuesday against McKeesport.

For the Trinity girls basketball team, Tuesday night’s non-section game against McKeesport was a brief sabbatical from dominance.

The Hillers own WPIAL Class 5A Section 3. They are 18-0 since joining the section before last season, and all 18 wins are by double figures. Trinity’s six section wins this season are by a 47-point average.

McKeesport came into the night 11-2 overall and 4-1 in Class 5A Section 4, so Trinity expected to have to sweat a little more than usual.

Although it didn’t come down to the wire, Trinity had to fight much harder than it has to in section play, especially with starter Maddy Roberts not available.

The Hillers led for almost the entire game and finished the job, 60-53. Beating a good team while not at full strength is something that pleases Trinity coach Kathy McConnell-Miller.

“I’m happy,” McConnell-Miller said. “I told the players (we were) going to have to grind this one out.”

Grind, they did.

Alyssa Clutter (20), Kristina Bozek (17) and Eden Williamson (15) combined for 42 of Trinity’s 60 points.

The Hillers overcame a sluggish start – they went more than three minutes before scoring their first field goal – to take a 24-15 lead into halftime. Bozek led the Hillers with 11 first-half points, nine of which came from beyond the arc, where she was 3-for-3.

Bozek wasn’t initially supposed to start, but with Roberts – who averages double figures in scoring and plays quality defense – out sick, Bozek had to step up and did a superb job of doing so.

“She’s been effective for us all season,” McConnell-Miller said. “She’s really effective from the perimeter. She’s a really good three-point shooter, but I thought defensively tonight, she did a good job, particularly in the first half of really allowing us to play the tempo that we like to play. And then defensively, I thought that she was great on the boards.”

“They were not expecting those threes from her,” Clutter, who had six assists to go with 20 points, said. “She really stepped up, and she hit those. She’s been coming to practice and shooting those shots, and she just brought it today. That’s exactly what we needed.”

For McKeesport, Rachel Manfredo scored 19 points, Brooke Evans added 11 and Madison Hertzler an even 10.

The Hillers’ return to section play Thursday at Uniontown. McKeesport hosts South Fayette.

Trinity beat Uniontown 91-21 at Hiller Hall Dec. 21, so it doesn’t take a sports bookie to guess how Thursday’s class will go. But Trinity’s main goals are to get back to the WPIAL championship game for the third year in a row, conquer the demons of the past two title game losses and then make noise in the state tournament.

For McConnell-Miller, having multiple players score in double figures and controlling the pace of the game – as well as getting Roberts back – will be essential. Trinity is hopeful that Roberts will be good to go by Thursday.

“I think the balanced scoring for us is always really important,” she said. “Controlling tempo. Those are the two areas that, offensively, we feel like we’ve done a great job all season. Defensively, if we get Maddy back and we have our full roster, we are definitely an up-tempo and pressing team, and that will allow us to press.”

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