Trojans Womens Basketball Prevail Over Rivals Edmonds Tritons 75-65

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Simon Krane

Trojans guard Serafina Balderas ( #12 ) rushes to give teammate Morgan Marshall (black t-shirt) a high five at the final buzzer.

The Everett Trojans women’s basketball team overcame all odds Saturday, Jan. 19 as they beat the Edmonds Tritons 75-65 at the Walt Price Fitness Center.  

The victory did not come easy as it was a physical uphill battle right from the opening tip-off.

EvCC started the game sluggish and Edmonds jumped on them early.  The Tritons came out strong the first quarter dominating the Trojans in both offensive and defensive rebounds indicating the final score would result in a Tritons win.

With 6: 38  left in the second quarter,  the Tritons subbed out all of the five players on the court at once replacing them with fresh legs. The substitution felt intimidating,  making the crowd wish that the Trojans had a bigger roster.

The game seemed to be going in favor of the opposition when the Tritons built up a 13 point lead. The Trojans, however, would be unphased sticking with their game plan.  Slowly but surely as the quarter winded down the team began clawing their way back.

We just knew the game wasn’t over.

— Hannah Hezekiah

At halftime, the Trojans were only behind 34-28. “We just knew the game wasn’t over,” said Trojans forward Hannah Hezekiah.

Simon Krane
Trojans forward Hannah Hezekiah wrestles Tritons guard Rachel Balagso (#3) for a jump ball in the second quarter.

Then in the third quarter, the shock happened when Everett took the lead  34-37 for the first time in the game with 8:10 left to play. As the Trojans stuck to their gameplan the Tritons began playing more sloppy by conceding more personal fouls as the game progressed into the third and fourth quarter gifting the Trojans with more free throws.

Things would get intense with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter when Trojans players Kelsey Mellick picked up her fifth personal foul and Morgan Marshall picked up a technical foul for. This forced the two players to sit the remainder of the game. The Trojans would hold onto the lead and shoot a few more free throws Ultimately winning the game.

This team has a lot of heart and it’s fun to watch them play.

— Coach Chet Hovde

“We’re happy as heck,” said Trojans Women’s Basketball Head coach Chet Hovde.” “They(Edmonds) jumped on us big time and we just gutted it out. This team has a lot of heart and it’s fun to watch them play.”

One of the top performers for the Trojans was Hannah Hezekiah. Hezekiah shot 30 points, going 14-18  shooting from the line ( Free throws ) and 7-12 in field goals ( two points).

The result gives the Trojans their third consecutive win in conference play going to 3-1.

Simon Krane
Among those in attendance was the newly christened “T-trophy” for the emerging rivalry between the colleges Edmonds Community College and Everett Community College. While the schools have played against each other for decades there was no official rivalry. The college with the most wins from the athletic contests between the two will claim the trophy at the end of the year.

 

To view the boxscore of the game  visit the NWAC Website by clicking on the link below

http://nwacstats.org/sports/wbkb/2018-19/boxscores/20190119_gkq5.xml?view=boxscore