A strong start from Trinity Women’s Basketball team put the hosts up 16-13 after the first quarter with the team taking advantage of several open looks and a strong commitment to team rebounding. The tide shifted, however, when Ulster University Jordanstown switched to their full court trap, pushing the play and forcing several turnovers that the Trinity guards were unable to respond to.
By pressing from the inbound, Jordanstown forced long passes over the middle and, with a lack of ball support from the hosts, took advantage of the sloppy passing to take a 39-34 lead after what was a very fast-paced second quarter.
In the third quarter, Trinity had no answer for the isolation offence run through Jordanstown’s captains, Butler and Sarju, who poured in 23 and 31 points respectively. By running isolation, Jordanstown were able to pull Trinity’s help side off the ball and create room for the visitors two American stars to take advantage of one on one opportunities and space.
Unfortunately, the third quarter saw Trinity’s shooting, which had kept them within striking distance all first half, dry up. Jordanstown were up by as many as 23 points before sitting the starters for most of the fourth quarter. With Butler and Sarju off, the hosts managed to pull back into the game, closing out the last quarter with the score 16-11 in the frame.
The game was not without positives for the hosts, however. Their outside shooting was particularly productive yielding eight three pointers, including five from leading scorer, Kelsey Ellis. Continued group rebounding as well as effective distance shooting from the field could prove to be an effective recipe moving forward for the team, who played Friday night without American import and sports scholar Jessica Porter. Another positive was a strong showing from the bench. Early in the game Trinity made effective use of their large bench by keeping starters fresh and constantly injecting new players into the game. The ability to roll a strong bench is vital moving forward into the dog days of the season and is a testament to the depth created by the program.
Moving forward, ball support is an important aspect that needs to be improved on, especially against the full court press that Jordanstown deployed. While pushing up court stretches the defense and can lead to fast break points, the forwards must be aware that they may need to fall back into the middle in order to make themselves a passing option for the guards as they work their way up the court. These adjustments could create a much faster press break and will limit turnovers caused by long passes over the top.
Trinity will be looking to bounce back for their next game, where they will hopefully benefit from the services of Porter, coming back from injury.
Correction: January 22nd, 2017
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Trinity had been playing against Queen’s University Belfast. In fact, they were playing against Ulster University Jordanstown.
