Trinity sophomore guard Noa Peña was in attendance for Darby Dunn’s record-breaking night on Tuesday when the Canyon Cowboys’ player scored her 1,000th career point.
Less than a week later, Peña made history of her own for the Trinity Knights when she passed the same milestone in a 68-11 win over the Vasquez Mustangs on Saturday.
“It’s normal for a player as they get close to a milestone achievement to kind of force the issue. The cool thing about Noa Peña was that she didn’t at all,” Trinity head coach James De Monbrun said. “She just continued to play the same game that she always plays, which is a really balanced game.”
In the win over the Mustangs, Peña led the Knights (12-6, 1-0) in scoring with 32 points and had an all-around performance as she also tallied six rebounds, six steals and three assists.
De Monbrun added that Peña wasn’t even aware of the upcoming milestone and that what makes her a great player is the fact that she is a “relentless worker” who just wants to help Trinity win.
“She doesn’t track that. She shows up and she plays,” he said. “She just shows up and competes hard with a great attitude. And I think the spotlight is always a little odd at first because they’re not used to being the center of attention in that way. But she was great. She took it in stride.”
De Monbrun added that the timing of the career night made the opportunity an exciting one as Peña was courtside to watch Dunn accomplish the same feat earlier in the week at Golden Valley.
Both players are great friends as they attended middle school together at Trinity Classical Academy and still have a close relationship after Dunn started playing at Canyon, according to De Monbrun.
Once Peña learned she crossed the career milestone in the game, she was taken aback and surprised as De Monbrun called a timeout to let the sophomore have her moment with teammates along with a standing ovation from the crowd that included family and friends.
“It’s exciting for a coach when you see kids celebrate each other. It’s a reminder that team sports are about the team. They’re not about any one person,” he said. “Her teammates went crazy for her, our fans were able to get out there and have some fun stuff on a sideline for her. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into that. And much like her friend Darby Dunn at Canyon last week, these kids are doing these as 10th graders, which is unbelievable.”
With the win, the Knights opened Heritage League play with a win and are 12-6 overall and carry momentum as they enter the second half of the season.
De Monbrun wants his team to celebrate and be in the moment but to focus on the bigger picture on finishing the year stronger.
“We set small goals for ourselves throughout the year to help us ride the emotional roller coaster that is a season,” he said. “So, we just do a weekly touch base. We talked about the win in Heritage and why the second half is so encouraging. And when you’re as young as we are, every game is an opportunity to just grow and get better.”
The Knights play again on Tuesday for a non-league contest on the road against the Holy Martyrs Armenian Armens of Encino with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
