Sweet Sixteen: Lauren Trumpy, No. 1 Trinity smother No. 3 York Catholic for District 3 Class 3A gold

Jeffrey Kauffman For The Sentinel

LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP — York Catholic and Trinity had combined for 28 District 3 girls basketball championships entering Wednesday night.

So, it was only fitting that these two went head-to-head for No. 29. And it was Trinity that earned the honor, its 16th championship, with a nearly wire-to-wire 62-46 victory at Trinity High School over the Fighting Irish in the District 3 Class 3A championship game.

“It was exactly what we expected from York Catholic — a tough game and battle until the end,” Trinity head coach Kristi Britten said. “They hit a lot of 3’s to keep them in the game. It did not feel like a 16-point game.”

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The Shamrocks (19-1) will be off until the PIAA Class 3A tournament, which begins March 19. An opponent and site will be announced in the coming days.

On the first possession, the Shamrocks got four shots on three offensive rebounds but didn’t score. After that, they pounded the ball inside to junior center Lauren Trumpy to great success. And if she didn’t get a shot, she kicked it out to Ava Stevenson, who was their to knock down open looks.

Trumpy, who is fielding multiple Division I offers, ended up with 12 points in the first quarter and totaled 25 in the game, including a nice 7-of-8 at the foul line. She finished with a double-double with 11 rebounds.

“You can’t defend Trumpy unless you have someone who is 6-foot-4, and we don’t have that,” Irish head coach Kevin Bankos said. “We needed to defend their guards, but they have two of the best guards around. [Jaylin] Moore is so good with the ball and knows when to penetrate, and Ava has unlimited range. I knew they were special players when they were freshmen.”

Trinity led 16-9 and then 36-22 at the half. The Fighting Irish kept bombing away and nailed 11 3-pointers in the game, cutting the deficit to 10 at 56-46 in the final quarter.

But Moore, who finished with two points, was a key when she was in the game.

She stepped out for about 10 minutes after tweaking her knee in the second quarter. But she returned in the third and ran the Trinity offense, finding Trumpy in the post and spot-up shooters on the wing. She was at the top of the defense deflecting passes and forcing Irish passes over the top that Trumpy, Mandy Roman, Jocelyn Dorsey and Anna Spila snagged to start fast breaks.

Moore had seven assists and at least six deflections or steals.

“It all starts with Jaylen; she knows when to feed the ball and when to push the ball. All I have to do is catch the ball and finish shots,” Trumpy said. “She seems to never force a pass.”

“Moore does all of the things that don’t show up in the score book,” Britten said. “She never scores many points, but she has the skills and leadership that you want in a guard. She runs our offense.”

Stevenson added 16 points, including a step back 3-pointer and an NBA range 3. Spila added nine, and Roman added seven for the Shamrocks, who will have to do better than the 14 for 26 at the foul line. The positive of the game was that the Fighting Irish only got to the line one time.

York Catholic, which started two freshmen, ends the year at 13-7.