Lady Knights Face 3 Testy Opponents

By Paul Hines & Anthony Jones

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TROY — Starting with a Jan. 9 visit to the 15-3 Mt. Vernon Rams, Triad girls basketball faced a challenging slate last week.

“Triad’s always tough to play,” Mount Vernon coach Jeff Lonnon said. “They play in a good conference. They play a good schedule, and I thought they did a really good job keeping in the game there until halftime. And then I think our depth and our pressure just ended up wearing them down in the second half.”

Savannah Hildebrand paced Triad with 17 points. Erica Boyce added 10. Makenna Witham ended with seven points and 11 rebounds.

Triad grabbed a 7-2 lead to start the game, but the Lady Rams finished the quarter on a 9-0 burst to go up four points. Tiara Johnson, who finished with a game-high 24 points, scored in transition to give Mount Vernon a 11-7 lead at the quarter break.

Mount Vernon pushed the margin to double figures with a 10-0 run to open the second period. Johnson capped the burst with a bucket to put the Lady Rams up 21-10.

Triad responded with a run of its own to close the gap to 25-22 late in the half. Boyce started the 12-2 stretch with a long range shot and Witham nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three points with a minute left in the half.

“They can shoot, and we knew that coming in,” Lonnon said. “(Hildebrand) is one of the better shooters in Southwest Illinois. She’s really good. So we really had to be conscious of where she was.”

Baskets from Johnson and Maelee Allen gave the Lady Rams a 30-22 cushion going into the halftime break.

Mount Vernon outscored Triad at a 37-24 clip in the second half to take the matchup in 67-46 fashion.

Triad’s next action came on Jan. 11, as they hosted Waterloo. Their conference matchup marked their third meeting of the year, with the Lady Knights winning the prior two.

The third time around, the Bulldogs found themselves tied 8-8 after one period. In the second quarter, the tide would suddenly change as the hosts outscored Waterloo 19-5 for a 27-13 lead at the break.

Triad rolled their momentum into the second half to cap off a 49-28 win. Their win pushed them to 11-9 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

Closing out the week, the Lady Knights kicked off their play at the Highland tournament. The 16 team field features three of the four defending IHSA State Champions.

Triad found themselves matched up with the 18-2 Nashville Hornettes for their Jan. 13 opener.

With four points each from Maddie Hunt and Witham, the Lady Knights found themselves in a 12-8 deficit through one quarter.

A sudden 10-1 run for Nashville would quickly bolster the small-school powerhouse’s lead, however. At intermission, they kept a commanding 24-12 lead.

Riding eight points from Savannah Hildebrand, the Lady Knights slashed Nashville’s advantage to just 27-20 early in the third period. By the quarter’s end however, the Hornettes flew ahead 37-26 enroute to a 58-36 final.

Coach Josh Hunt recalled the inflection point of the contest, “In the second half, the difference was their offensive rebounding. We got killed there on the glass. In the fourth quarter, we got tired.”

Witham finished with team-high tallies of 11 points and seven rebounds in the setback.

“It’s just elite teams. We just played on and we played one for 26 minutes that we were competitive with and really showed promise,” Coach Hunt reviewed the tournament after his team’s first round bout.

Triad’s first round of consolation play is slated for Jan. 15 against Hillsboro. The Hilltoppers will enter that showdown with an 11-12 record.