The Trenton Lady Bulldogs took the best efforts of a team from Stanberry riding a 19 game winning streak, and survived a stern road test on Friday night, winning the 2017-2018 Grand River Conference championship with a 46-37 win that pushes THS to 20 games above .500 (21-1).
The difference between the two division champions may have been set early, as the visitors, behind seven points from Ainsley Tolson, claimed a 15-8 advantage after the first quarter. A more evenly played second stanza saw Stanberry cut one point off of Trenton’s lead, but still trail heading to the locker room, 25-19.
The third quarter looked troublesome for Trenton, particularly on offense, as it took THS nearly four minutes to score coming out of the half, but the swarming defense of the Lady Bulldogs frustrated a Stanberry team eager to make a run, and by the time a defensive-minded quarter was over, Trenton had outscored Stanberry 5-4, and held a 30-23 lead.
The fourth quarter began with much more offensive spark, as Stanberry’s Lily Osborn and Trenton’s Mykah Hurley traded three pointers to ignite a furiously played eight minutes of basketball. Tom Johnson had the call on KTTN FM 92.3:
Less than two minutes later, Trenton picked up more breathing room, with junior forward Salem Croy hitting from long-distance:
Sidney Lynch, Mykah Hurley, and Ainsley Tolson combined for six of nine free-throw shooting in the final quarter, helping to hold off Stanberry’s late push, as the #3 ranked team in the state in Class 3 kept its Grand River Conference stranglehold on the top of the basketball mountain:
Tolson finished with 15 points to lead Trenton, while Hurley adding 11, and Lynch 7 (five from the free-throw line). Maci Moore hit six points, with one bucket each in the second, third, and fourth quarters, but became more of a factor on the backboards as the game became more physical in the second half.
Stanberry, now 19-2 overall, and finishing 7-1 in the GRC, was led by a game-high 17 points from Madi Sager, while Lily Osborn had 12, although Trenton’s defense kept her to just three points after the half.
In an ironic schedule quirk, Trenton’s girls will return to Stanberry for a varsity doubleheader on Friday, February 9th, playing the Lady Bulldogs in a 6 o’clock rematch, followed by a boys game at 7:30. Those games will be broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7. Before those games, the Stanberry girls and boys travel to Bethany on Tuesday night, playing South Harrison in a varsity doubleheader.
The Trenton boys, the #2 seed from the GRC East, traveled to St. Joseph on Friday night and took a victory over the Christian Lions, 66-56 in overtime. In the Grand River Conference’s boys championship game, #1 ranked (Class 1 MBCA) North Andrew showed off its power and balance, taking down the GRC West champion Milan Wildcats, 65-48. Lance Streeby had 23 points and Cole Thorburn 14 for the Cardinals, with Ryan Dabney leading the Wildcats with 16 points.
Other than the Trenton girls win, Friday night was generally a struggle for the GRC East, with the only other team seeing the win column being from Bethany, as the South Harrison Lady Bulldogs beat Pattonsburg, 52-27.
The other GRC crossover girls scores were:
North Andrew 47, Gallatin 36
King City 47, Princeton 32
Worth County 59, Milan 30
Braymer 41, Polo 25
Albany 50, Putnam County 39
St. Joseph Christian 66, Maysville 46
The other GRC crossover boys scores were:
Stanberry 67, Putnam County 53
Worth County 62, South Harrison 49
Princeton 64, Pattonsburg 52
Polo 70, King City 63
Braymer 55, Maysville 47
Gallatin 69, Albany 35
Photo credit – John Cowling / Facebook / Stanberry, MO
