Hawthorne Falls, Trenton Advances to Girls Hoops State Final Tuesday

The Class 1A State Championship game is set for girls high school basketball. After semifinal play, the Trenton Tigers will take on the Holmes County Blue Devils in Lakeland on Tuesday.

Semifinals

Both the Trenton Tigers and the Hawthorne Hornets advanced to the semifinal round. No. 2 ranked Hawthorne (22-4) took on No. 5 ranked Holmes County (21-6) on Monday. A 56-40 loss to the Holmes County Blue Devils knocked Hawthorne out of contention.

On the flip side, Trenton will be advancing to the state championship after beating the Port St. Joe Sharks by a score of 60-40. However, the Tigers got off to a slow start. Trenton led by just one at the half, with the score being 18-17. Slow starts are atypical for the Tigers, who have statistically scored the most points in the first quarter and averaged the least in the fourth quarter.

1st Half Stats for Port St. Joe (@PortStJoeHS)

Field Goals: 7-21 (33%)
3-PT: 1-7 (14%)
Free Throws: 2-9 (22%)
Rebounds: 30 (10 Off, 20 Def)

1st Half Stats for Trenton (@THSlady_tigers)

Field Goals: 5-33 (15%)
3-PT: 1-11 (9%)
Free Throws: 7-16 (43.8%)
Rebounds: 23 (15 O, 8 D)

— HSSportsFlorida (@HSSportsFL) February 25, 2019

Despite a slow scoring start, Trenton head coach Bryant Frye said a late fourth-quarter push propelled his team to a win. The Tigers put up 27 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Coach Frye also spoke about the importance of having girls on his roster with previous playoff experience:

“It’s invaluable. If you’ve got a senior-leading team and you’ve got kids experienced, not only just experience in playing, but playing in that environment three years ago, you can’t measure that experience and what it does to the rest of the team. They just feed off of that.”

Check out Trenton’s leading scorers of the game:

• Taniah Bowers: 18 pts
• Standrea McHenry: 14 pts
• Bri Becker: 13 pts

Trenton has not faced Holmes County in any previous games. Coach Frye said he watched the Blue Devils play in their semifinal game to get an idea of the team’s strengths.

What’s Next

Trenton will take the court against the Holmes County Blue Devils Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Lakeland.