“She probably played the best game of her life.”
Trinity head coach James De Monbrun didn’t hold back when asked about his all-CIF point guard Lily Caddow.
Trinity Knights girls’ basketball won its CIF opener at home, 68-39, over Temple City on Thursday, behind Caddow’s 32 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and four assists.
The captain also finished with no turnovers while shooting 5-of-9 from behind the arc.
De Monbrun has seen Caddow for years in a Knights’ uniform as well some years playing club.
Trinity junior Emma Schaaf was also dominant and finished with 23 points, 11 boards with a trio of blocks and steals.
The Knights (22-6) have known this day would come for months. The Heritage League forfeited the title to Trinity in the offseason, forcing the Knights to rely on their non-league schedule to grow, even more than before.
However, even with all the CIF experience the team could ask for, the head coach knows it’s important to stay in the moment and battle for each win.
“We’re certainly a different team,” De Monbrun said in a phone interview. “It’s important to stay in the moment, when we’re playing you’re not thinking about, ‘I’ve been in this game,’ you’re just in the moment. Just because we’ve made runs in years past doesn’t mean we’re gonna make another. The team this year is not the team from last year and two years ago. This team has to come and compete as hard as they can.”
Trinity jumped out to an early lead and Temple City (14-12) just couldn’t break through the relentless Knight defense to cut the deficit.
The Knights will be hit the road for the second round of the Division 3A playoffs. Trinity heads to Torrance (20-9) on Saturday, in what likely will be its toughest game all year.
“Torrance is really good,” De Monbrun said. “They’re fast, have size, are battle-tested, in a tough league; we’re gonna have our hands full tomorrow with them for sure. In the playoffs, you only have one day to get ready for a team. You prepare as much as you can but you have to rely on doing what you do best.”
The Knights head down to Torrance to face the Tartars with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
