Triton Upsets No. 2 Oregon-Davis
BOURBON – When the basketball game between Oregon-Davis and Triton was postponed earlier this month, nobody knew when, or even if, it would be made up. The two Class A juggernauts finally met Saturday evening and it was worth the wait for the Lady Trojans.
“It feels great,” remarked a beaming Becca Kennedy.
Kennedy, a Triton senior, led all players with 25 points to help lift her team over Oregon-Davis 60-47, snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Bobcats.
“We’ve been trying to beat them since our freshman year,” Kennedy continued. “We knew it was going to be rough, we knew it was going to be intense but we knew what we had to do to beat them and we did it today.”
The Trojans watched a 13-2 first quarter lead slowly fade away to the No. 2 ranked Bobcats. O-D committed six turnovers in the first quarter, but was nearly flawless in the second. A buzzer-beating layup from Madison Taylor gave the visiting squad a 32-26 lead and all of the momentum going into the half.
The Lady Trojans suffered a heartbreaking, double-overtime loss to Culver Friday night and the wind looked like it was completely sucked out of Triton at the end of the first half, but the Lady Trojans were just getting started.
O-D led Triton 43-36 after the third quarter, and seemingly stole the momentum again with another buzzer-beating two, this time from Taylor Kranenburg. That last-second shot did not bother Triton in the least. The Lady Trojans brought the home crowd to its feet by starting the fourth quarter out with an 11-0 run.
O-D finally scored with a pair of free throws, but the Bobcats were completely blindsided by Triton’s defense in the frame, going an abysmal 1-12 from the floor. Triton was 13-16 from the charity stripe and outscored the defending state champions 24-4 in the game’s final quarter. The loss is the first for the Bobcats to a Class A opponent since the 2013 regional.
Triton forced 10 turnovers in the second half, five of which were steals. Kyle Mason led Triton with four steals and three assists, was a perfect 4-4 from the line and scored 13 points. Jaela Meister hit several big shots in the second to give her team the edge, the junior finished with 15 points. Kennedy led the team with eight rebounds and sparker her huge offensive outing by hitting four threes.
“These girls played their hearts out today,” began Triton head coach Adam Heckaman. “This was a much-needed lift today. We had a rough game last night and they were pretty upset about that. But they came out here today and played with the energy we needed to get a win.”
Heckaman’s team may see the Bobcats yet again this season and O-D will be in the Bi-County Tournament. The Bobcats also host the Class A Sectional 51 this February, a sectional field that includes Triton and several other ranked teams.
“I think this game here shows you just how much fun we’re going to have in that sectional over at Oregon-Daivs,” Heckaman said. “There are several teams in that field that can beat one another. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
All teams in the sectional are currently two or more games above .500. Three teams (O-D, Triton and Culver) are all currently ranked in the top-10 in Class A polls while Argos is ranked in the top-20.
Riley Trott hit five threes and led O-D with 19 points. Kranenburg added another 16 points and four steals for the Bobcats.
No. 6 Triton (11-6) will play at LaVille Tuesday evening in the opening round of the Bi-County Tournament. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. O-D (12-4) will host New Prairie Tuesday night in the Bi-County.