As one of Trinity’s leading scorers, Annie McKenna learned over the years that shooters need to keep firing away, even when their shots don’t fall.
McKenna’s driving layup Thursday with 20.9 seconds remaining during the Class 4A Young Sectional final came after the junior guard had missed all seven of her shots in the second half and nine in a row.
But this time the ball went through the hoop and gave second-seeded Trinity a 37-36 win and a dose of revenge against top-seeded Young (28-2). The win snapped Young’s 28-game winning streak and was the Dolphins’ first loss at home in 127 games.
Trinity (27-4) advanced to play Homewood-Flossmoor in the McAuley Supersectional at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
“When you become a shooter, you have to have short-term memory,” said McKenna, who was 3 of 17 for 11 points. “You can’t think about the last shot. You have to focus on the next shot.”
The Dolphins led 36-30 on a layup by Madinah Muhammad (team-high 15 points) with 3:09 to go.
Trinity missed its first six shots of the fourth quarter before junior Kaitlin Aylward (13 points, six rebounds) made a 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining to bring the Blazers to within 36-35.
“I don’t get those opportunities (to shoot 3s),” Aylward said. “Annie penetrated and the other team double- teamed her. I was out at the 3 (point line). It was a perfect pass.”
Young had two looks at a go-ahead basket in the final seconds. Senior reserve guard Muhammad missed a short running jumper and Isabela Spignola’s putback glanced off the rim. Trinity freshman Alisa Fallon grabbed the rebound as the final buzzer sounded.
Trinity used just one senior, Patricia Stritzel, and three freshmen: Fallon, Lauren Lee and Daliyah Brown.
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“We knew it would be tough. I’ve been telling everyone lately, ‘We can play with anyone,’ ‘” Trinity coach Ed Stritzel said. “We need the kids to believe. We are so very young.”
The sectional title is the Blazers’ first since 2010 and ended Young’s string of 11 consecutive sectional championships.
Young beat Trinity 58-45 in last year’s sectional final and also 60-49 on Jan. 31 in a nonconference game at Young.
Twitter @geomwilcox