by Anthony Robinson

Senior Paige Kennon’s made free throw with 0.5 seconds left in regulation gave the Trojanns a 46-45 lead and sealed a hard fought win Monday night. The Trojanns rallied from 14 down and outscored Tri-Center 20-5 in the final seven minutes of the game.

“We executed well late. With five seconds left the we just wanted to first get the ball in play, but the biggest thing was we weren’t going to let them have the ball back; make some kind of turnover and give them a chance for a break-away lay-up…I knew (Kennon) would make one of (the free throws) if not both. It was just a nice execution the last five seconds,” Coach Casey Pelzer said after the game.

Senior Alex Hartwig took charge in the fourth quarter scoring 10 of her team high 16 points in the final quarter. She also scored seven of the final eight points for Atlantic. Hartwig also ended the night with 10 rebounds.

“If you’ve ever watched Alex play she’s as athletic and strong as anyone. She ended last year, the last five or six games, the way she played tonight. Hopefully tonight was a big confidence booster for her and she kinda gets on that roll,” Pelzer said.

After a 17-16 Trojann lead at halftime, Tri-Center outscored Atlantic 22-9 in the third quarter, but the Trojanns weren’t willing to end the game without a fight.

“We didn’t change anything offensively or defensively (in the fourth), we just had some girls step up and make plays. Alex was the obvious one on the offensive end, but I thought Paige made a lot of big plays on the defensive end,”Pelzer said, “Mackenzie hit shots early and Shelby hit us some shots late.”

The entire game was filled with runs by both teams.

After trailing 3-0 the Trojans went on a 7-1 run to lead 7-4, but Tri-Center came back with a 7-0 run of their own after Atlantic committed turnover after turnover in the front court.

The Trojans tied the game at 16 after three out of four made free throws after a technical foul on Tri-Center with 46 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Atlantic took the lead after Kennon’s only point of the first half.

Tri-Center made six three-point field goals in their 22-point third quarter. Tri-Center ended the night with nine made shots from beyond the arc.

As a team the Trojanns made 13 of 19 free throws, while Tri-Center made only four of 14.

“It was fun to watch. We just finally had some girls step up and make plays,” Pelzer said.

For complete stats from Monday’s game CLICK HERE.