Hannah Wanemacher streaks up the floor for a fast break layup while OD’s Sydney Williams pursues in a game in Hamlet Wednesday. (Photos by James Costello)

HAMLET — The Lady Trojans’ razor-thin loss at perennial power and sectional rival Oregon-Davis was not a moral victory.

But the down to the wire, 45-44 defeat against the storied Lady Cats on the road at The Den was a marked improvement from years past and a learning experience. It may even be a “good loss”, says Triton head coach Adam Heckaman, but only time will tell.

“We felt like it was a good game for us. No loss is a good loss, but if we learn from it and grow from it then it turns into a good loss,” he said. “That’s something we talked about in the locker room. If we learn from this —  we learn to understand situations a little bit better, we learn to maybe go a little bit harder to close out and some small things like that — if we learn and we improve on those because of this, then this was a good loss for us. Hopefully that’s what we take going forward with our last three weeks of the season here.”

The Trojans (7-10) nearly earned themselves an ultra-rare win in the series but for a defensive breakdown in the closing moments in Hamlet.

Hannah Wanemacher hit a go-ahead triple from the wing with 15 seconds on the clock to bring her bench to its feet, but some of Triton’s less experienced players on the floor didn’t quite recognize the situation and hesitated getting back on the defensive end. OD’s Sydney Williams recognized the opportunity, driving the length of the floor off the inbounds pass and slicing into the lane for a transition layup with just 4.5 seconds remaining, a bucket that wound up being the game-winner as the visitors would only get off a desperation heave from beyond half court by Nicole Sechrist at the final buzzer.

“We haven’t been in a whole lot of last second games like that, and we had some kids out there that just didn’t understand that that shot put us ahead. I think we had a couple kids that were really looking to put them on the line, to be honest,” explained Heckaman. “We had no timeouts left because we used them to save some possessions early, so that was the end result. Their girl, she made a good play, a heads-up play by her. She drove the length; she knocked down the shot she needed to knock down. It’s something we can learn from, though.”

Jaela Faulkner puts the pressure on Katelyn Sauer while Triton coach Adam Heckaman calls out instructions during the first half Wednesday.

The Trojans led by as many as nine points in the first half after Chelsea Johnson’s putback pushed them out to a 21-12 advantage at the 4:32 stop of the second quarter. But the Cats (7-7) closed out the half on an 11-3 run to whittle that cushion down to a single point at the intermission, then opened the second half on a 13-4 run to pull ahead, 38-30. The home team led by nine with Mercedes Rhodes’ steal and assist of a Kandis Sauer fast break lay-in with only 5:49 left in the game, but a quick spurt of seven unanswered points — five by Wanemacher alone — brought Triton back to within a single possession at 43-41 with 4:37 on the clock. A long OD possession on the other end and an Abigail Powell steal set the stage for the dramatic finish.

The difference between the two halves, says Heckaman, was a matter of adjustments.

In the first half, Triton gave the Cats a dose of their own medicine with up-top, trapping pressure that yielded 10 OD turnovers before the break but gave up some points in the paint. The Trojans shored up the backcourt in the second half to take away the post, but the home team responded with 3 of 4 3-pointers — three by Sauer — during their game-changing, 13-4 run at the start of the third period.

“We’re long, and when the girls use that and play situationally, get to the spots they need to to take away passing lanes, it can make some passes difficult. I thought in the second half we did a much better job taking away the post player, not letting her get going,” said Heckaman. “That was something that they got to in the first half so we made some adjustments there, so then they stepped up and hit some 3s from the corner. You’ve got to give and take a little bit, and they took what we gave them and they knocked down the shots they needed to.”

Wanemacher’s would-be game-winner from the wing with 15 ticks to go pushed her scoring total to a game-high 20 points. Eight of those points came in the fourth quarter alone with the Trojans needing a hero. It was an impressive performance by the senior, who was struggling through an ankle sprain leading into the holiday break.

“She had an ankle sprain there before Christmas, and that slowed her down a little bit. Her shot wasn’t quite falling as much as she’s used to, but she’s really worked on it to get it back,” said Heckaman. “We talked all week this week — if you take care of the ball, you’re going to get open shots. You’ve just got to knock them down, and I felt like we did.”

Delanie Groves handles the ball on the wing while Katelyn Sauer and Jayden Worthington move to trap in the second half.

Whytnie Miller also finished in double figures with 12 points for Triton, mostly earned on fast break opportunities, off of the Trojans’ 18 steals as well as off outlet passes and within Triton’s press break against OD’s typically unrelenting full court pressure.

“She’s fast, and we used that to our advantage against their press,” said Heckaman of Miller. “They really put a lot of pressure on. We worked on a press break where we felt like we could kind of get it over the top to her, and we did. Those are some of those opportunities that I think we missed. Making that pass for the layup, I think we maybe missed a couple there, and then she maybe missed a couple, but she did a good job of doing what we needed her to do.”

The Cats got a pair of double-digit scoring performances from Katelyn Sauer and Jayden Worthington, who finished with 10 points apiece. Kandis Sauer added nine as seven OD players made the scoring column, compared to five Trojans.

With the win, OD bounced back from back-to-back losses over the weekend and will play at Lighthouse CPA Friday. Triton resumes play at Hoosier North Athletic Conference foe Winamac next Tuesday.