Triton’s Nicole Sechrist battles for a rebound with Argos’ Bailey Nifong Tuesday night during Argos’ 57-25 victory. (Photos by Mike Deak)

BOURBON – On a night that had the Triton community give back to its own, Argos took the basketball portion to another level. The Lady Dragons used one scoring run after another to crush Triton, 57-25, Tuesday night amidst the charity work for Ounce Of Prevention of Marshall County.

Argos wasted little time taking control of the game, jumping out to a 17-4 lead on the strength of a 13-0 run. Triton would cut the lead to 17-9 at the end of the first quarter after Shayla May hit a three and Nicole Sechrist hit a putback shot, but that would be the last time Triton would trail in the single digits.

Triton’s Quinn Downing

Argos used two consecutive steals and buckets on the other end to go up 23-9. Turning up the defensive dial even further, the Dragons held Triton without a basket the entire quarter and kept the Trojans off the board for 6:57 of the second quarter.

A 13-0 run to open the second half ended any argument as the Class 1-A No. 5 club from Argos were well on its way to its third win in as many games this season.

“We really did a good job tonight on making some adjustments from practice,” Argos head coach Gary Teel said. “It helped to make one or two steals. It makes (us) quicker and brings up the intensity level. I’m glad to see it, but we can’t rest on it, and we need to continue to improve.”

Courtney Dunlap and Kaelyn Barlow each finished with 15 points. Barlow, a Holy Cross College verbal commit, added eight rebounds and a lot of inside presence on both ends for the Dragons. Macee Strycker added 11 points and Valerie Rospopo had 10 points and six steals.

Triton (0-2) committed 26 turnovers on the night, which led to 32 Argos points in the most telling statistical note of the night. Argos had just nine turnovers in the game. Hannah Wanemacher led the Lady Trojans with 10 points and four rebounds. Brooklyn Beatty had six points and May five points.

Sechrist added eight rebounds before leaving in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. Triton was already thin on its bench with Jaela Meister only able to play sparingly for 10 minutes with a bad knee and just two other subs dressed for varsity action.

Triton’s Megan McFarland

The learning curve will be steep according to Triton head coach Adam Heckaman.

“We have to be patient, and this will be a process to get through this,” Heckaman said. “We have some really good teams up front. The first half of our schedule is the toughest part. We are young, inexperienced. We have a lot of learning to do. They have to keep their heads up, gotta work through things. Gotta get better day by day and keep improving.”

The JV game saw Triton defeat Argos 24-14. Alysha May led Triton with eight points and Kaitlen Bailey added seven points while Argos’ Samantha Stone led all scorers with 11 points.

The pink-clad Triton program, along with many of its fans, upped the ante in the second year of the initiative, generating $1,331 to donate to Ounce of Prevention. Up $324 from its first year, the money raised will go directly to those in Marshall County dealing with cancer and its complications.

“This is the reason why we do it,” said Ounce Of Prevention representative Jessica Oliver, pointing to several individuals in the crowd wearing support T-shirts. “The American Cancer Society raises billions of dollars on a broad scale, but we are working directly for our own communities. The local touch is what makes this special to me. We are doing it for the people in this gym. The people in these small communities.

“Triton has been amazing in taking the ball and running with this,” Oliver added. “I feel fortunate. This is unbelievable. This speaks volumes to how tight-knit these communities are in Marshall County.”

Added Heckaman, who spearheads the project at Triton, “I personally wanted to take it on. I had a grandmother who had breast cancer, beat it, and it turned into more and she passed away. We took this on last year with the help of Ounce Of Prevention, they donated the uniforms. We wanted to do everything we could to keep the money local.

“We do what we can for it. That’s something for the girls to see and learn. It’s basketball, it’s a game. There’s a lot of roles they can play as leaders in the school and student athletes and put that forth to the community. That’s something we want to set for them.”

Triton’s Hannah Wanemacher and Argos’ Courtney Dunlap chase after a loose ball Tuesday night.