Ladies At Least Holding The Crown
CULVER – The horizon is beginning to look a lot more clear for the Triton girls basketball team. Needing to take care of business Friday night, the Lady Trojans settled in to blow out Culver, 66-19, to move to 7-0 in the Hoosier North Athletic Conference, securing at least a share of the inaugural conference crown.
After a shaky start, Triton quickly settled down and took advantage of Culver’s inability to take care of the ball. Down 5-3 in the opening minutes, Triton would flip the script in a hurry. Rattling off 11 of the next 13 points, most off turnovers and transition, the Lady Trojans flipped to a 14-7 lead. A few blinks of the eyes into the second quarter had Triton up 26-7 after scoring the first 12 points of the quarter.
An offensive rebound and putback by Charlotte Morris with four seconds to go in the half put Triton up 32-9, which summed up how the game had turned.
“We are learning. We have to start games better,” said Triton head coach Adam Heckaman. “We didn’t start the game well tonight. I think five or six of our turnovers were in the first five minutes. Once we settled in, we took care of the ball and we executed.”
Triton opened on a 10-2 run to start the second half, as Triton secured its eighth win of the season.
Morris finished with 14 points and four rebounds for Triton, who also had Hannah Wanemacher drop in 18 points and Jaela Meister muscle in 16 points. Wanemacher and Meister combined for 10 rebounds, six steals, five assists and five three-pointers.
Nicole Sechrist added nine rebounds and three steals and Sara Stevens came off the bench to contribute eight points and four steals.
Triton would force 28 Culver turnovers, 16 of which came in the first half. Triton was able to score 39 points off those turnovers and had 15 second chance points.
Culver (2-15, 1-5 HNAC) shot an abysmal 19 percent from the floor (6-31) and had Marisa Howard net eight points amidst the action.
Triton will claim a conference championship for the first time since 2013 from the defunct Northern State Conference. A win over North Judson Jan. 29 would give Triton the outright title, with Winamac currently sitting at 4-1 with three games to go. Triton beat Winamac Tuesday night.
Before the HNAC wraps up, Triton will have to worry about New Prairie (2-15) in the first round of the Bi-County Tournament Tuesday night in Bourbon.
“We took care of business, and we do that and we’re guaranteed at least a share,” Heckaman said. “I teach my kids to share, but I told the girls in the lockerroom that we don’t want to share. We have one game left (in conference) and we want to make sure we finish it out. That will be our focus after the Bi-County.”