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Trinity Balog becomes Big Reds’ all-time leading scorer

Senior scores 24 as PHS opens tournament play with 60-34 win over St. Albans

By Jay W. Bennett 5 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Trinity Balog pumped in a game-high 24 points and became the all-time scoring leader in Parkersburg High School girls basketball history as the Big Reds eliminated Hurricane, 60-34, in a Class AAAA, Region IV, Section 2 semifinal Wednesday evening inside Memorial Fieldhouse.

Balog surpassed Shay-Lee Kirby's previous record of 1,386 on a putback early in the first and was joined in double figures by Lauren Flanagan (15) and Kennedy Porter, who had 10 points, a game-high two blocks and was a rebound shy of a double-double.

The No. 4 Big Reds (19-4) now will play host at 7 p.m. Friday to St. Albans, which upset Parkersburg South 55-43, for the sectional title with both programs from that affair advancing to the regional co-finals on Thursday, Feb. 29.

"Hard worker," PHS head coach Chris Murray said of his senior Balog. "I don't think when people have ever talked in a negative manner of Trinity, and there's some critics that have said something before, they don't realize how hard she works. This is not a shock to us that she broke this and scored almost 600 points this season. She busts her butt. From day one when I got this job, there was a lot of unfamiliarity with me getting the job and Trinity bought in immediately and was very coachable, and very opinionated on what she thinks we should do.

"I'm a player's coach, man. I want my kids to talk to me about what they see and what they don't like. I think it's very important to what we do. Obviously, I'm just over the moon excited for her. I've coached a lot of 1,000-point scorers from Belpre and she's my first one here. She's the greatest basketball player I've ever personally coached. Just the real deal. She's just the real deal."

Hurricane head coach Jeremy Young's squad opened the affair with a putback by Kate Dempsey to give the Redskins their only lead.

Balog followed with her historic deuce and then knocked down a 16-foot jumper thanks to a Jensen Varner feed. Although a floater by lone HHS senior Rylyn Bielinski tied it at four, Flanagan hit the first of her five triples and Balog followed with the first of her half dozen to make it 10-4.

A 3 by Alex Anderson via a Kendall Anderson dime cut it to 13-10 late in the first, but Balog drained a deep triple to give PHS a six point advantage after one.

Flanagan started the second by hitting a 3 and Balog followed with another one from well beyond the arc. Porter followed with an inside hoop as PHS pushed ahead 24-10.

Hurricane, which shot just 25.5% (14 of 55) while PHS finished at 42.6% (23 of 54), used a Kaycee Whitman trifecta along with baskets by Kendall Anderson and Gabby Quijano to close the deficit back to nine, 27-18, at intermission. Quijano managed to knock down a turnaround baseline jumper just before time expired

A third chance hoop by Alex Anderson, who had a team-high 11 points, got the Redskins within seven to start the third, but PHS closed the stanza on a 23-6 run. HHS was doubled up at 48-24 at the 1:55 mark after Frances Guice's lay-in from a Sophie Lott assist.

"It just happened to fall at home and I'm glad it did," admitted Balog of entering the game a point shy of Kirby's old mark. "No school has the support and no school has more people behind a player than I think my community has against me. They support me day in and day out and they have my back. They are really excited to see it. I wanted St. Albans because if we play South it's more like a home game for them, too.

"It would've been packed and we like to play in those environments, but whenever you're in those environments it could go either way, but I'm happy to get St. Albans again. I think it will be a good chance. I think we both have a good chance to get to states. We played very well as a team tonight, I think, and they were really excited for me. We're going to keep trucking along one game at a time and we want to keep hosting."

Alex Anderson, who had six rebounds, was the only Redskin who scored in double figures. Quijano tallied eight points, while Kendall Anderson had a game-high 11 boards with Bielinski grabbing nine caroms.

"We went toe-to-toe for two and a half quarters with the fourth best team in the state and kudos to Trinity," said coach Young. "In my opinion she's the best player in our conference and one of the best players in the state. She's just such a competitor.

"Not just her, but the whole team is hard to defend because they got so many weapons, but I'm proud of my team for coming out and competing. We are young. We're missing a couple pieces that hopefully we get better over the next year or two. Kudos to Parkersburg. Hopefully they go on a run."

Balog's final points of the game came on a 3 to give PHS a 55-28 lead in the fourth. Ellie Kinnison hit from deep and Eden DeBord converted inside to cap the scoring for the red and white.

"We know what St. Albans brings," added coach Murray, whose team beat the visiting Red Dragons 61-57 last week. "We know what they'll do. We're excited to get them again and we're looking forward to that opportunity and that challenge.

"They went to Parkersburg South, not an easy place to play and go win, so credit to them. We got to focus on us and what we do. Just one game at a time. That's all we got to worry about."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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