Late surge not enough to keep Triton Central’s season alive

INDIANAPOLIS— Triton Central’s 20-win season started and finished with a loss at Heritage Christian.

That final loss came Saturday night in the championship game of Class 2A, No. 43 despite a final push by the Tigers.

Down 43-29 after three quarters, the No. 11 Tigers cut the deficit down to two, 54-52, with 18 seconds left but did not get a final look at stealing the win. The No. 8 Eagles hit five free throws in the final 15 seconds to capture a second straight sectional title, 59-52.

Heritage Christian (18-8) will face Union County (14-10) in a Class 2A regional championship game Saturday at 4 p.m. at Greenfield-Central.

Riley Johnson scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the second quarter to get the Eagles a 28-19 halftime advantage.

Trinity Taylor tallied eight of her 14 points in the third quarter when the lead ballooned to 43-29. The senior forward also had 12 rebounds and made life around the rim tough on the Tigers (20-5).

”She played fantastic. She is such a competitor crashing the boards,” said Triton Central head coach  Bryan Graham. “Part of the gameplan was rebound, rebound, rebound and block her out. We knew what we were supposed to do but she took care of business.”

Triton Central was outrebounded 32-17 in the loss.

Heritage Christian put Johnson at the top of its zone defense, and paired with Taylor in the low post, made life difficult for Triton Central’s for three quarters. The Tigers were 11 of 39 from the field over the first 24 minutes.

”They put their size and length up top,” said Graham. “I think they would have struggled to try and guard us (man-to-man). I think their gameplan was great.

”We tried a couple of different things. Once we got it figured out and started connecting on it, it was the third quarter and we had to dig ourselves out of a hole.”

Triton Central turned the game chaotic with constant pressure that forced 10 fourth-quarter turnovers which limited the Eagles to just four shot attempts.

A 9-0 run capped by a long three-pointer by Layla Compton cut the lead to 47-44.

Both teams exchanged a pair of free throws from there.

Elyse Snively hit two free throws and after a Triton Central miss, Isabelle Papineau scored on a fast-break opportunity to extend the lead to 53-46 with 46 seconds to go.

”That’s one thing about this team, they are never going to give up and never going to quit,” said Graham.

Compton followed with her third made 3 of the quarter to cut the lead back to four.

Taylor missed the second of two free throws and Maryrose Felling converted two at the other end to make it 54-51 with 22 seconds to go.

A turnover and foul quickly put Compton at the free throw line where she hit one to get the Tigers within two at 54-52.

Triton Central got possession again but rushed into a turnover. A foul was called as both teams scrambled for possession. An apparent push by a TC player resulted in a technical foul as well which gave the Eagles five free throws in the game’s final seconds to seal the win.

Compton finished with 16 points and three rebounds.

The loss brought an end to the record-breaking career of Felling. With her first point Saturday, she broke Triton Central’s single-season scoring record held by Samantha Dewey. Felling had 17 points to set the new record at 567 points and she extended her career scoring record to 1,787 points.

Quinn King finished with nine points, four assists and four steals. Along with Compton and Kate Collier, King will be the team leaders next season.

”The biggest thing is she has developed that leadership role,” said Graham of King. “Along with the leadership role, she is knocking down jumpers and she is calling offensive plays on out of bounds. Her basketball game and her IQ has come so far.

”Now you have to guard her and she is so quick, she can drive around you and find someone or she scores herself.”

Triton Central had three seniors close out their careers Saturday — Felling, Cheyenne Allen and Lexi Eubanks.