It was a tough finishing schedule for the Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia Trojans as they faced highly regarded Griggsville-Perry and South County to close the season last week. Two encouragingly close battles ensued with the Trojans falling to the Tornadoes 53 to 45 and to the Vipers 35 to 31.
The third time was the charm for the Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia Lady Trojan basketball team as they beat South Fork for the first time in three tries to win in the opening round of their own regional.
In a process that is yet to make sense to me, the Lady Trojans traveled to the better seeded Ponies home floor in the opening game even though Triopia is the Regional host. Nevertheless, Triopia got the win, roping and tying the Ponies in 43 to 38 victory, moving to 14-14 on the season. Prior to regional action, the Trojans knocked off North Greene and lost to Pawnee.
For the second straight year, the season of a very good Triopia Trojan eighth grade basketball team was ended by a very good Pawnee eighth grade basketball team.
After a second-round win over a pesky Springfield Little Flower team, the young Trojans lost to Pawnee 39 to 32 in the Regional Championship game held at Springfield Blessed Sacrament last Thursday.
The Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia Lady Trojans honored lone senior Lilly Pate prior to last Monday’s game then sent her off in style with a 31 to 22 win over Pleasant Hill. Triopia jumped out to a 12 to 2 lead after one quarter but failed to score in the second as the Wolves cut the deficit to 12 to 6. A six all third period made it 18 to 12 going into the last quarter and the Trojans held on for the victory hitting 11 out of 12 free throws on the evening. Lucie Dion and Addison Rohn each had eight points for Triopia. Mylee Tracy added six, Pate had five and Gabby Myers knocked down four.
With the junior high boys’ basketball season well into postseason play, only a couple of local teams remain in the mix while a couple of squads bowed out last week.
The Beardstown eighth grade team finished off their season in the first round of the Pittsfield Regional with a 46 to 9 loss to top seeded Athens. The Warriors bolted to a 19 to 0 first quarter lead in the easy win. It was 28 to 2 at the half and 31 to 9 after three quarters. Brandon Figueroa had six points, Carter Ross scored two and Erick Mejia notched one in the season ending loss for the Tigers.
The letters S and F spelled bad news last week for the Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia girls basketball team as the Trojans lost to South Fulton and South Fork to fall to 11-12 on the year.
The week started with a disappointing 54 to 48 loss to a 5-19 South Fulton team at home. The Rebels led all the way, but the second quarter was the difference in the game. It was 15 to 13 in favor of South Fulton after one quarter which they expanded to a 37 to 23 lead at the half. The Lady Trojans cut the deficit to 48 to 37 after three quarters and fought hard in the fourth but fell just a little short. One high note for Triopia was nine players getting on the scoreboard. Mylee Tracy led the way with eleven. Ava Petefish had nine, Gabby Myers had seven, Addison Rohn had six, Lucie Dion had five, Eve Crawford had four and Raye Greenstreet and Lilly Pate each had two.
The Triopia 7th grade boys’ basketball team's season ended in the first round of the regional with a heartbreaking 33 to 31 loss to Springfield Blessed Sacrament last Saturday. They had won their final regular season game of the year over Griggsville-Perry 42 to 19 last Thursday. The 8th grade Trojans lost to the Tornadoes 41 to 35 to fall to 17-5 on the season.
The Lady Trojans of Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia lost both games last week, including a conference game to fall to 1-4 in the WIVC and 11-10 overall on the season. In a strange twist of the schedule, the Lady Trojans faced the same two teams last week that they had played the week before in the North Greene Tournament, losing to Hardin Calhoun and home and falling to South County on the road.
The Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia boys basketball team split a pair of Western Illinois Valley Conference games last week, winning over rival Brown County and falling to highly ranked West Central. The Trojans move to 8-10 overall and 3-2 in the conference heading into their own Varsity/JV tournament this week.
The Triopia-Meredosia-Chambersburg-Virginia Lady Trojan basketball squad brought home the Third-Place plaque from the North Greene Tournament last week. In an odd bit of symmetry, the Trojans won their opener 37 to 29 over Greenfield-Northwestern (GNW) then fell in the semifinals by an identical 37 to 29 score to Hardin Calhoun. In the third-place game, Triopia outlasted South County 44 to 40.