Trinity Classical Academy girls basketball had one of its toughest challenges to date on Friday night, playing crosstown rival Santa Clarita Christian School on the road.
In a packed SCCS gym, the Knights found themselves down 11 points by halftime. But with a little resiliency, Trinity was able to win the game 47-44 in the final minute to clinch the Heritage League title and log their 14th straight victory.
“It’s so easy to fold when everyone is against you,” said Trinity coach Daniel Hebert. “We weren’t getting calls from the refs, we weren’t hitting our shots. They were hitting all their shots, the fans were going nuts for them every time they did anything and our girls stuck in it and fought this out and came away victorious.”
Trinity Towns was able to seal the game for the Knights (15-8 overall, 11-0 in Heritage League). With the Knights leading 45-44 with 40 seconds left to play, Towns received the ball on an inbounds play and knocked down a 2-point shot from the corner and secure the lead for the final time.
Towns, a senior, finished the game with 13 points, five rebounds and six steals.
“She just had come into her own within what we do,” Hebert said. “She knows where she can get shots and she knows what she needs to do to do it. Comfort leads to confidence when you do it right and ‘Trin’ was comfortable and confident at the end of that game.”
Katie Brown had a double-double for the Knights with 10 points and 12 rebounds in addition to three blocks. Freshman Lily Caddow also logged a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards and tacked on three steals.
Hebert said his team keyed in on Cardinals’ Kelly Lotz, who scored nine points in the contest. Jordan Schwesinger led SCCS (14-7, 7-3) with 14 points.
“Every time you play SCCS it’s a good game,” Hebert said. “They’ve had a great year and it’s so special. It’s really fun to play them, it’s fun for all the girls, both teams and I’m really proud of the girls for overcoming the atmosphere. Their home crowd at SCCS showed up tonight and we withstood it.”
Now that Trinity has clinched the league title, they hope to finish out the season undefeated and play at Faith Baptist, the No. 2 team in the Heritage League, on Monday.
The Cardinals are in third place behind Faith Baptist in the league standings.
