Mike Ridaught
Make it 74 in a row for the Trenton girls basketball team.
Last night at home, the Lady Tigers continued their dominance of district competition with a 65-37 rout of visiting Branford in a match-up of the top two teams in Class 1A-District 6.
Head coach Bryant Frye improved to 74-0 against district teams since 2015, despite the fact that he didn’t coach in the game. Frye was ejected from their game at Providence (Jacksonville) on Monday night and had to serve a two-game suspension, so he watched last night’s game online.
“It was different and unique,” said Frye. “The difference is you feel like you can make adjustments when you’re coaching and when you’re in the game experience. But when you’re watching, you’re hoping that your kids make the adjustments. It’s just a different feeling.”
Four players scored in double figures for Trenton, led by senior Samarie McHenry, who scored 10 of her 14 game-high points in the first half as the Lady Tigers built a 33-19 lead at the break.
“At first, I was actually kind of nervous (without Coach Frye),” McHenry said. “But then I told the girls that even though Coach Frye isn’t here that we still need to push hard like he’s still here.”
Junior Jordan Douglas was next with 12 points, followed by senior Janiyah King and junior Bri Becker with 11 points each.
“I thought the kids played hard,” Frye said. “Whoever won was going to be in the district lead but to get the win by a convincing margin, I’ll take that any day of the week.”
In the boys game, Trenton defeated Branford 43-33 to complete the sweep. Tyler Perry led the Tigers with 10 points.
That makes three wins in a row to start the week, with a chance to go 5-0. Trenton, which defeated Union County on Monday and won at Lafayette (Mayo) on Tuesday, hosts Oak Hall School of Gainesville tonight at 8 p.m.
Both the girls and boys are in action on Saturday, with the Lady Tigers hosting Hilliard at 5 p.m., followed by the boys game at 6:30 p.m.
In other Tri-County area hoops action, the Chiefland girls lost a close one at Newberry, 43-42, in a district game. Seventh-grader Camille Williams had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.
The Dixie County Bears lost at Hamilton County, 65-51. It was the third straight loss for the Bears, who travel to Cedar Key tonight at 7:30.
The Bell girls were a winner. The Lady Bulldogs won at St. Francis Catholic Academy in Gainesville, 51-31. It was the seventh win in a row for Bell, which improved to 11-5.
The Williston boys travel to Chiefland tonight at 7. The visiting Red Devils defeated West Port (Ocala), 62-42, on Tuesday and are looking to extend their winning streak to six in a row.