Sophomore night results in a perfect 10 for women's basketball

The past and future shared top billing with the present as the Triton College women's basketball team won their 10^th game in a row with a 79-57 victory over Olive-Harvey College on Sophomore Night Feb. 23 at the Collins Center.
 
Easily winning their final home game of the year as fans enjoyed comped hot dogs as the 22-5 Trojans honored sophomores Dana Walcott and Destine Lovett, along with three-year players (extra eligibility due to Covid)  Monraia Wilson and Linarys Burnett-Romero.
 
But they could also look forward to the post-season as No. 1 seed in their Region 4 Division I semifinal matchup against Sauk Valley Community College scheduled for noon March 4 at Highland Community College in Freeport.
 
Malcolm X College will play the host school in the other semifinal game immediately afterward. The Region 4 Division title game will take place at 5 p.m. March 6. The regional winner will travel north by northwest to North Dakota for the Great Lakes District on March 11.
 
"We're here," said interim coach Drew Winston. "I got the horses behind me. I think we're ready."
 
What will be the fine-tuning needed in the one remaining regular-season game against Oakton on February 25 in preparation for the tourney?
 
"We need to box out," Winston said of his smallish team. "If we can put a body on a body in the post, we'll be all right."
 
He was pleased overall with the effort in the home finale.  Queen Baker had a team-leading 19 points (on 9-for-15 shooting) and nine rebounds. Trinity Baker had 18 points and four rebounds.
 
"They came out with a lot of energy," Winston said. "My sophomores led the way. We had a good first half. I can't complain with a lead."
 
Prolific scorer Wilson kept her momentum going by getting the Trojans off to a fast start with 12 first-quarter points. The Trojans raced to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter and was never challenged by the Panthers (11-14), who were paced by Jasmine Davis with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds.
 
"She's a go-getter, she's a walking bucket," Winston said of Wilson. "She knows how to fill it up. She's a great player."
 
Wilson played in her 70^th career game, most in Trojans history. After her 18-point performance against Olive-Harvey, she has 813 career points, ninth in program history.
 
Her six assists pushed her career total to 253. Wilson also has 209 career steals and ranks seventh in the nation in thefts this season with 90.
 
 Burnett-Romero played in her 64^th career game. She had a pair of three-pointers against the Panthers, pushing her Triton career record to 198. She has made 84 this season, needing nine more to break the single-season three-point record.
 
Burnett-Romero also has 752 career points, 11th in program history. She has 71 career assists.
 
Wilson and Burnett-Romero are the only veterans remaining from the 2021 squad that won the Region 4 title, breaking a 27-year championship drought for the women's program.
 
Lovett played in her 52^nd game. Scoring seven points with four assists, she now has 218 career points, 110 assists and 74 steals
 
Walcott has 150 points (8.1 average) and 135 total rebounds (7.6 average) in 18 career games.

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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)