Trojans season ends in championship game loss to Highland

The quest to win back-to-back Region 4 Division I championships came to an end for the Triton College women's basketball team Feb. 28 in an 86-58 home loss to Highland Community College in the title game.

The Trojans finished the season with a 23-5 record and recorded their best single-season winning percentage (.821) since the 1983-84 campaign.

Triton had no answer for eventual Region 4 tournament most valuable player Abby Barr who ended up with a game-high 33 points on 14-for-22 shooting, far above her 17.9 points per game average.

"Abby's a great player," said Triton coach Marques Hatch. "I'm not mad she'll be moving on to a four-year school. She's extremely efficient. She doesn't really rush and is able to finish with both hands around the basket."

Unfortunately, the Cougars (21-6) came to the Collins Center with a laser-focused purpose: to avenge the Trojans' 60-56 upset of them last season in the Region 4 championship game on their home court in Freeport, Ill.

Hatch could see the determination in the Cougars' body language.

"Last year's game when we won on their court, they used that as fuel tonight," he said. "They really had it in for us. We didn't come to fight."

The Trojans picked the wrong night to miss key close-in shots. Overall, Triton shot just 29 percent for the game as the taller Cougars used their height to their advantage.

"Looking at the game, the opportunities we had from layups, boxing out, cost us the game," Hatch said. "They owned the paint tonight.  When you don't make layups. It's a problem. They definitely were able to exploit our lack of size."

Barr established her supremacy early with 10 first-quarter points. The Trojans trailed just 14-12 at the end of the quarter.

But an 11-3 Cougars surge to start the second quarter put them in control of the game. The visitors kept the offensive pressure on to build a 19-point lead in the third quarter. And any thoughts of a Triton comeback in the fourth were thwarted by 10 more Barr points in the period.

Kendra Hatley (Proviso East) led Triton with 17 points to go with 10 rebounds. Marshall High alum Temya Russell had a good all-around game with 14 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Hatley, Russell and Keisy Alvarez (Madrid, Spain), the programs first international player, were all named to the all-Region 4 tournament team. Now Hatch has the task of taking the positives of this season and starting the effort to get further in 2022-23.

"We won a lot of basketball games," Hatch said. "We were able to do a lot of things right. A lot of teams would love to trade places to us from a record standpoint. We need to have a better (title-game mentality). We have to remember this loss and let it marinate."

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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)