By Nick Goralczyk
InkFreeNews

FULTON – Nobody saw it coming.

Triton’s Emma Hepler hits the second of two three-pointers Saturday morning against Fort Wayne Blackhawk at the Caston Girls Basketball Regional. InkFreeNews photos by Nick Goralczyk

Well, except for everyone wearing blue and gold.

Okay, not that blue and gold.

When Triton found out it was taking on No. 13 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian in the 2021 IHSAA Regional 13 tournament, it was safe to say that only people inside Blue Swish’s circle were confident their team could knock off the Braves, who also don blue and gold on the court.

The Trojans embraced their underdog role, executed their game plan and overcame some adversity on their way to a 46-40 victory in the morning game of the Caston Regional.

This story will ramble on for another few hundred words, but Triton’s Kinsey Atkins really summed up her team’s win.

“Yeah, I feel like people didn’t really expect us to be here,” Atkins explained before finishing, “but we proved them wrong.”

Atkins storyline in the game was critical to the final score. Atkins was shooting a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc in the game, including the team’s first score of the night. Her accurate shooting helped the Trojans to a 23-21 lead at the half and put them up 26-23 in the third before Atkins was called for her fourth foul with 4:39 to play in the period.

Once Atkins left the game, things changed. The pace slowed offensively and Triton was forced to look inside more where it was not having great success. The Trojans and Braves were tied 28-28 going into the fourth.

Atkins returned at the 4:45 mark in the fourth quarter and immediately made an impact. Th sophomore drained another three, her fourth of the night, to give the Trojans their first lead since early in the third at 34-33. Two minutes later Atkins struck again with her fifth and final three of the night, she shot a perfect 5-5 from the perimeter, to put Triton up 37-35 with 2:17 to play. It was the final lead change of the game.

Atkins put the cherry on top of her performance while her team was clinging to a 44-40 lead with just 20 seconds to play. The sophomore forced a turnover on Blackhawk’s do-it-all guard Hailee Kline to help punch the ticket to Saturday night’s regional championship.

Kinsey Atkins led all scorers with 16 points during Triton’s 46-40 regional semifinal victory over Blackhawk.

What Atikins did while on the court was the easy things to report on. Her stats are right there to be seen, a team high 16 points. But what isn’t necessarily on the stat sheet was what Triton did while Atkins was on the bench. That’s what head coach Adam Heckaman pointed to in his post game interview.

“We obviously want her on the floor,” Heckaman said of Atkins. “(Atkins) handles the ball, she helps take pressure off of Taren (Yates). But Emma (Hepler) and Jaelyn Bules stepped up huge in (Atkins) absence. Those kids stepped in, handled more of the ball than they are used to, handled more minutes than they are used to. It was good to see everybody step up.”

Triton’s win was about the whole team rising. Six Trojans scored in the contest. After Atkins it was Hepler with 10 points. Abbey Viers added nine points while Yates had six. Lexia Hostrawser scored two points but led the team with five rebounds, including a critical offensive board in the final 90 seconds that helped Triton build a two-possession lead.

The Trojans did not force shots offensively, constantly moving the ball and waiting for the right look. Defensively Triton stayed tough and made sure Kline did not get hot. Blue Swish kept Kline scoreless in the second quarter and held her to 15 points, slightly under her season average. Blackhawk closes the season with a 19-7 record.

Triton (12-11) moves to on to play No. 7 Pioneer (22-4), a 50-25 winner over Kouts in the second semi-final. The Trojans fell 46-34 at home earlier this year to Pioneer. The regional title game tips at 8 p.m.