Falcons Fly Past Trojans In Season Opener
WALKERTON – The Triton girls basketball team will be a work in progress this season.
The Trojans got their starting point to progress from Friday night.
Triton opened the 2015-16 campaign on the short end of a 48-28 final at John Glenn.
The Trojans, who finished 15-8 a year ago, struggled mightily in the opener and for good reasons.
Triton graduated all five of its starters from last season, a group which accounted for 76 percent of its offense. The Trojans also had very little practice time together in the preseason as several key members of the team played on the sectional championship volleyball team that just finished its season with a loss in the regional on Oct. 27.
Triton coach Adam Heckaman is looking at the big picture and not just one game.
“We just talked in there (the locker room) about looking to get better every day,” said Heckaman following the opener Friday night. “We knew it was going to be a challenge early on and that we have a lot of areas that we need to improve on. It’s just going to take some time.
“The thing is that we are going to get better. I’m confident in that and I’m confident in these kids. I have kids who will work hard. We may go through some bumps and bruises early, but our goal is just to improve every day and be playing our best basketball at the end of the season.”
The Trojans, who lost 44-31 to Glenn last year, were done in by turnovers. Triton had 25 miscues in the loss, including 15 in the opening half.
“They (Glenn) were aggressive and quick to the ball and we were sloppy,” Heckaman said.
Triton led early 5-0 before the Falcons knotted the contest at 7-7 after the opening period. Glenn took command in the second stanza, hitting four straight 3-pointers, to take a 23-12 halftime lead. Standout junior guard Kyannah Stull, who led the winners with a game-high 17 points, had eight in the opening half.
“Stull is one of the best players in the area,” remarked Heckaman. “They had some kids step up and hit shots in that second quarter for them.”
Glenn, which graduated five seniors including its top two players in Kyler Columbia and Loren Vukovits from last year’s 20-4 team, hit three more treys in the third period. The hosts, who have now defeated Triton three years in a row, built a 34-18 lead after the third period.
Sophomore Hannah Wanemacher scored 15 points, including 10 in the second half, to lead Triton. She hit three treys in the contest.
“Hannah can shoot the ball,” said Heckaman. “We probably needed to get her more shots early in the game. We knew going into the season that we would have to find some people to score. I think we have some kids who will. It will just take some time.”
“It was just very difficult in general to get ready for this game. We had the minimum five practices together. We got tired tonight because we are not in basketball shape. The conditioning is going to take some time.”
Senior Shayla May scored five points and sophomore Nicole Sechrist four for Triton. Sophomores Charlotte Morris and senior Brooklyn Beatty each had two points. Senior Jaela Meister, Triton’s top returning scorer (she averaged 8.2 points-per-game last season), did not score and left the game in the second half after banging her knee in a collision for a loose ball.
Sophomore Riley Groves had eight points and senior Chelsea Groves six for the Falcons, who had just nine turnovers in the game.
Glenn won the junior varsity game 46-23. Charlotte Morris had six points and Alysha May five to lead Triton. Abbie Schmidt netted 15 points and Bethany Hayden 11 for Glenn.
Triton (0-1) hosts Argos Tuesday night. Glenn (1-0) hosts Knox Saturday night.