Trinity Valley, as expected, was an older, explosive, and more experienced version of Duncanville High School. The AIS rose to the challenge early on in the game meeting Trinity Valley’s intensity and physicality. Trinity Valley struggled early with defending the AIS’s quarter court execution and quickly adjusted to full court zone and man pressure in the full court to combat their ability to defend in the quarter court and in the paint in particular.

The AIS struggled to get comfortable executing against the full court pressure. The AIS had too many passing turnovers that led to easy transition points for Trinity Valley. As a result, the Cardinal were able to get the upper hand going into the half 36-31.

The AIS came out of the half with a couple of solid offensive possessions to narrow the gap, however, the Cardinal were able to counter with increasing their defensive pressure that resulted in a couple of back-to-back turnovers. The AIS was forced to take a timeout, now 8 points down. The AIS came out of the timeout and again struggled with decision making against the pressure resulting in a string of passing turnovers leading to a 13 point deficit and another AIS timeout. Trinity was then able to build consistently on their solid lead over the next few minutes. Although the AIS was able to settle somewhat late in the game, the AIS was not able to cut into Trinity’s lead due to the relentlessness of their ball pressure, physicality, dribble penetration and ability to push the ball on the dribble in transition.

Unfortunately statistics were not available after the game. We believe that we lost the possession game based on 22 turnovers and Trinity Valley’s relentlessness on the offensive glass. Ultimately, 75 points is too many points to give up defensively and/or to match offensively. We estimate that Trinity Valley had approximately 40 points in the paint, mostly transition and dribble penetration points. This put immense pressure on our transition defence and defensive rotations. Trinity Valley was able to penalize AIS passing turnovers with points in transition/free throw attempts which, over the course of the game, was arguably the biggest issue for the AIS. Additionally, the AIS found it hard to get into a rhythm offensively due to Trinity Valley’s pressure which impacted the AIS’s effectiveness in scoring from the perimeter, finishing on the inside, and converting from the free throw line.

Alanna Smith and Tessa Lavey were standout performers of the night with 15 and 12 points respectively. We estimate that Alanna also grabbed 12-14 rebounds for the night. Alicia Froling had another strong contribution with 9 points and approximately 8-10 rebounds. Steph and Tiana also battled hard for 7 points each.

In summary, Trinity Valley is the kind of program that the AIS came to the US to compete against. The AIS is learning and adjusting, as expected, to the physicality and athleticism of their US opponents. We will continue to adjust and build on the progress made so far over the final two games here in Texas before returning to California for our final 4 games.

The AIS will need to take the lessons learned against Trinity Valley and back-up for tonight’s matchup against NAIA representative, Texas Wesleyan University, to win their fourth game of the tour.

Top Performers:

·          Alanna Smith 15 points

·          Tessa Lavey 12 points

·          Alicia Froling 9 points

·          Stephanie Collins & Tiana Mangakahia 7 points