On Jan. 7, Trinity gave Palmyra its toughest game of the girls' basketball season. The Shamrocks lost, but only by six points.
On Friday night, it looked like Trinity might give the Cougars another tough battle after taking a seven-point lead in the first quarter.
Then the second quarter happened.
Palmyra outscored Trinity 21-4 in the second period to take a 34-20 halftime lead and then rolled the rest of the way to a 64-41 win in Mid-Penn Keystone Division play.
The quarter started with Carly Richardson breaking an 0-for-6 shooting slump with a 3-point shot to tie the game 16-16.
"Carly is very confident in her game," Palmyra head coach Ron Berman said. "Sometimes she gets a little excited and we take her out and remind her to let the game come to her."
Soon after, Gabi Gundermann hit one of her four 3-point baskets to put the Cougars (21-0, 15-0) ahead 19-16.
"After you make your first one, you kind of feel like you're getting hot, and sometimes after you miss one in between you feel like you should stop shooting," Gundermann said. "But if you're in rhythm, you have to put them up because they're going to go in."
Click here for the full interview with Gabi Gundermann
Six Cougars scored the second quarter, and even some who didn't put the ball in the basket contributed to the scoring.
Katie Dembrowski did not score all game, but her steal set up Kaitlyn Carmo's field goal that made it 27-20 with 2:37 left in the half. Then Dembrowski had an assist on Katy McClellan's bucket for a 29-20 advanage with 2:02 left.
A 3-pointer by Carmo and a layup by Kristen Smoluk gave the Cougars their 14-point halftime lead.
Palmyra used a full-court man-to-man defense through the first half, but it was most effective in the second quarter when Trinity had seven turnovers.
"We kept our tempo up, and didn't change much in the decisions we made," Berman said. "We just were more aggressive in the passing lanes."
Trinity (11-7, 9-6) did score first in the third quarter with a Sydney Kochler layup, but Carmo's trey right afterwards seemed to immediately quiet any comeback attempt.
Palmyra was 8-for-20 from beyond the 3-point arc.
"They're just a patient, disciplined team," Trinity head coach Kristi Britten said. "They wait for a hole in your defense and then exploit it. I think our girls played good defense on the fourth pass, the fifth pass and the sixth pass. But by the seventh pass, it would fall apart."
The Cougars also did not turn the ball over in the first 11 minutes of the second half, preventing the Shamrocks from getting within single digits after halftime.
Trinity had a 14-7 lead with 2:55 left in the first quarter after a Madison Castelli layup.
Palmyra got within 14-13 before Maria Schwartz's put back made it 16-13 after the first period.
Richardson led Palmyra with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Gundermann had 14 and Carmo added 10.
Kochler had 10 points for Trinity. Madline Joyce grabbed six rebounds for the Shamrocks.
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