Eastern Hancock secures seventh straight win over Triton Central

FAIRLAND – Little contributions are big this time of year for Class 2A, No. 4 Eastern Hancock.

The Royals’ starting backcourt is dynamic. Much of the rest of the roster is inexperienced. That youth passed a tough road test Saturday at Class 2A, No. 16 Triton Central.

No one stood taller than freshman Hannah Womack, who had a blocked shot in the fourth quarter and sank two free throws with 74 seconds left on the clock that extended Eastern Hancock’s lead to 54-51.

From there, it was up to the two players who have each scored more than 1,300 points in their career – Triton Central’s Maryrose Felling and Eastern Hancock’s Kenzie Koch.

Felling, committed to the University of Indianapolis, hit two free throws with 50 seconds left to cut the Tigers’ disadvantage to 54-53. But after a defensive stop, Felling returned to the free-throw line and missed both attempts.

Koch answered at the other end with one of two free throws for a 55-53 lead.

Felling tied it at 55-all with two more free throws with 30 seconds to go.

Koch swished a 3-pointer on Eastern Hancock’s next possession and Triton Central never got a look at a game-tying shot and the Royals celebrated a 58-57 victory.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the kids,” said Eastern Hancock head coach Lindsey Shaw. “Kenzie (Koch) and Bella (Sotelo) are two phenomenal kids who are going to do all the little things to keep us going, but I think the thing that doesn’t pop up on the stat line is our freshmen coming in and taking turns on Felling, and a freshman post coming in … everybody stepped up tonight and this is what we needed. We needed that confidence boost.”
 Koch, a Ball State commit, finished with a game-high 34 points. The junior also had 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals while pushing her career point total to 1,301 points.

Sotelo, a junior, added 20 points, five rebounds and five steals.

Four freshmen saw varsity rotation minutes and did not contribute much offensively but helped keep the Tigers from sustaining long scoring runs.

“This was great. We even have a sophomore too that is working on getting more minutes. I couldn’t be more proud of them because every single one of them came in and did exactly what we asked them to do,” said Shaw, now 24-4 since her return to the program as head coach.

The Royals (3-0) have now won seven straight over Triton Central dating back to a TC 50-41 win on Nov. 13, 2021. The two programs could meet again in the postseason as part of Sectional 43 which also includes No. 15 Heritage Christian (2-1).

The Tigers (1-2) are now 0-2 against both potential sectional opponents. That makes for easy motivation for head coach Bryan Graham any time the program starts to lose focus.

“The negative is we lost to two of the better teams in our sectional,” said Graham, now 331-83 in his 18^th season at Triton Central. “The positive is it’s in November. Between those two games we are about three possessions away to where the difference is 1-2 and 3-0. Two or three possessions or a couple of free throws and we are right there.”

Triton Central lost its season opener Tuesday at Heritage Christian, 63-59. The Tigers tucked in a 73-35 win over Greenwood Christian Thursday.

Triton Central has just two more games this month – home vs. Monrovia (4-0) Friday and at Morristown (1-2) on Nov. 26.

“I told them we have to figure out ways to fix those two or three possessions from this past week and that makes a big difference in the outcome of the game. They were all eyes focused and paying attention. They are disappointed and bothered by it but at the same time they are eager and ready to learn.”

Felling scored 31 points Saturday against the Royals and passed Jessica Scherer for third all-time on the Tigers’ career scoring list. She now has 1,303 points and needs 135 points to pass Maya Chandler for No. 2 on the list.

Koch and Felling both started slow Saturday, each hitting just one of their first seven shots in the opening quarter.

Layla Compton, Kate Collier and Felling each scored in the opening 100 seconds of the second quarter to get the Tigers a 17-12 lead.

Sotelo and Koch followed with a 7-0 run of their own. A Koch steal and layin in the final seconds of the second quarter left the contest tied at halftime at 25-25.

A 6-0 run by Eastern Hancock in the third quarter was followed by a 7-0 run by Triton Central that opened up a 39-33 advantage. Sotelo scored the final three points of the quarter to cut the Tigers’ lead to 41-40.

The two teams combined to take 26 free throws in the final quarter and neither team led by more than three points.

Koch’s 3-pointer made it 58-55 with 16 seconds to go.

Triton Central turned the ball over before it could get a look at a 3. Felling was able to force a turnover and score at the rim just ahead of the final horn.

Collier finished with 11 points, five rebounds and two steals. Quinn King had six points, three assists and two steals.

Triton Central won the junior varsity game, 30-13, to improve to 2-1. Hayden McMichael led the Tigers with eight points. Ryn West finished with seven.

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