Trinity girls’ basketball began the season 3-1, including a season-opening 63-46 win over Pacifica to kick off the new campaign highlighted by sophomore guard Noa Peña’s hot start to the year.
In those three wins, Peña recorded 20-plus points in each of the games to lead the Knights to victory.
“We’re a small school, so I try to challenge our kids by going out and playing big schools,” said Trinity head coach James De Monbrun. “Noa Peña is a sophomore and has led the way for us. And we’ve had some big contributions early on from a couple freshmen, Ellie Carlson and Gracie Fillmore.”
In the win over the Palmdale Falcons in the second game of the season, Gracie Fillmore tied Peña in points scored with 15 and recorded a double-double as she tallied 11 rebounds.
Despite the team being young, that hasn’t stopped De Monbrun from scheduling tough competition such as Heritage Christian and Oaks Christian, who remain in the non-league portion of the schedule later in the season.
The purpose of the scheduling is for De Monbrun to have his team ready for the competition his team will face toward the end of the season and playoffs.
“If we want to be a team that continues to get better throughout the year and a team that’s ready come playoff time, then we have to go out there and really challenge ourselves with a tough schedule,” he said.
De Monbrun echoed his statement by highlighting other key competitions his team will participate in throughout the season, such as the John Burroughs tournament in Burbank in early December.
For a small school that has small enrollment such as Trinity, De Monbrun highlighted it can be harder matching up against other schools that have an enrollment of 3,000 kids to choose from as the competition has a larger pool of players to select from.
But the purpose of facing bigger schools is so his team can be the best versions of themselves, and his players have been showing their talent in the first few games of the season.
Peña, who won the Heritage League MVP last season as a freshman, will be a key player to watch to go on a tear again this season.
Despite the loss to Dos Pueblos, Peña still recorded 21 points along with eight rebounds and assists.
“She continues to just work on her game and attack areas that she wants to improve,” De Monbrun said. “I think the greatest part about her is that she’s a selfless kid. She really cares for her teammates, and that makes her easy to play with.”
The game that’s scheduled for the Knights next is Oaks Christian, a playoff team from last season, and De Monbrun is excited for what his team can accomplish against the Lions and the rest of the season as he believes this is the best Trinity team in years.
“We’re going to be a work in progress, and the hope is that we take all these lessons that we learn in November and December so that we can start to peak in January and February when games really, really, really matter,” he said.
Trinity plays again on the road at Oaks Christian on Tuesday with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
