Titans fall to Bearcats in quarterfinals of Region 7 tournament

DICKINSON — Six days prior, the Trinity Titans hosted Glen Ullin-Hebron in their final regular season contest. The Bearcats held Trinity to a season-low 14 points as they dominated from start to finish.

They met again in the first round of the Region 7 tournament Monday afternoon at Trinity High School with plenty more to play for.

Once again, Glen Ullin-Hebron showed why they were the No. 1 seed in the tournament as they cruised to a 68-34 victory over the No. 8 seed Trinity to advance to the semifinal round.

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“It’s good if you lose to get another chance,” Trinity head coach Trevor Ernst said. “You’re able to change a few things. The downside is we know how good they are. To be able to make it a good game we have to execute and take care of the basketball.”

It was a much better performance this time around for Trinity, but there are no moral victories at this stage of the season. The Bearcats once again suffocated the Titans’ offense, holding them scoreless for the first four minutes of the game.

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Trinity found themselves down 21-8 midway through the second quarter before Glen Ullin-Hebron’s offense exploded. They scored 28 points in the second quarter while maintaining their intensity on defense.

The Titans could’ve tacked on a few more points with 14 attempts from the free-throw line, but they managed just five makes.

“There’s a lot of things, we didn’t shoot a very high percentage right away,” Ernst said. “We gave a few second chance points. In the regional tournament it all starts over and a lot of it is momentum. As a lower seed you just want to keep it close and put the pressure on them.”

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They were held to 28 percent from the field and 30 for the game.

The Bearcats had four players in double figures, led by senior MiKayla Schneider with 17.

If there was a bright spot on offense for Trinity, it was the performance from eight-grade guard Annabel Scheeler. Despite being the youngest player on the court, she had ten points off the bench, often operating as the lead guard when in the game.

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“Very proud of her,” Ernst said. “She’s stepped up throughout the year. She’s an extremely hard worker and a very knowledgeable player…especially at the point guard position there’s a lot of things that help you with experience, touching the ball a lot, things like that.”

Her contributions against the top team in the region on the biggest stage presents the Titans with a potentially exciting prospect in the future.

But as for this season, the Titans’ ride is over and will have to watch the remainder of the tournament play out on their home court without them taking part.

BOX SCORE

GLEN ULLIN-HEBRON: MiKayla Schneider 17, McKenzie Gerving 13, Taylor Christensen 12, Kaley Schatz 11, Courtnee Soupir 7, Alyssa Duppong, Lizzy Duppong 2;

TRINITY: Kali Kubas 13, Annabel Scheeler 10, Ava Jahner 5, Hope Fath 4, Ady Karsky, Katherine Schneider, Nevaeh Tormaschy 2