Trinity racks up another regional

Updated: March 23, 2011 2:20PM

It was a run of 13 straight points during the second quarter that secured the ninth straight regional championship for No. 8 Trinity as the Blazers won the Class 4A Regional Final with a 58-39 victory at home over West Chicago on Thursday night in River Forest. Junior Megan Podkowa led all scores with 24 points as the Blazers dominated after a slow start.

"It seems like in the first quarter that it takes something like a shot to get us going, but our defense keeps us in the game until then," said Trinity head coach Ed Stritzel, "but I'm very happy with the win."

Sophomore Taylor Nazon contributed 13 points, seven of which came in the big second quarter run for Trinity (27-4), as the Blazers outscored the Wildcats 22-4 in the period. Podkowa scored the other six in that same span that gave the Blazers a 31-10 lead they would continue to build on through the third quarter. Though winning the regional seems like old hat to the Blazers, each year provides a different road and a new key that makes repeating a possibility.

"We've had the most regular season wins this year," Podkowa said of this year's team in comparison with the others she's played on, "and our chemistry is much better. Towards the beginning of the season we struggled a bit, but at the end we all came together and really played as a team."

West Chicago kept coming at Trinity despite the seemingly insurmountable deficit that stood before them. Senior forward Mary Connolly led the Wildcats with 15 points in her final high school game. Junior guard Claire Monroe added 11 points as they outscored the champions 17-9 in the final quarter.

The Blazers will face the winner of tomorrow's Glenbard North Regional Final between Rolling Meadows and a Bartlett team that dealt them one of their four losses on the year. Stritzel has led Trinity to the last five regional titles and knows that things only get tougher as they advance, but he is confident in this group because of the depth of talent and experiences that they've already been through.

"These kids are battle tested and they've seen them all," he said referring to the schedule that featured 15 of the area's Top 25 teams, more than any other within that group. "We've proved it by winning against the Morgan Park and Loyola's of the world. This is what we hoped for, and to accomplish it is great. Nothing seems to bother us, and it's unbelievable when other teams go on a run against us that we're not nervous. I can play nine or 10 kids, and while other teams' benches get shorter, we get deeper."

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