NORMAL, Ill. — Trinity coach Mike Valente quickly noticed that seniors Kaitlin Aylward and Annie McKenna were struggling holding up the enormous trophy.
Seconds after receiving the Class 4A third-place trophy Saturday during a halftime presentation of the state championship game at Redbird Arena, Aylward and McKenna, the unquestioned leaders of Trinity’s historic season, each grabbed the first state trophy in school history and attempted to raise it over their heads.
But the trophy dipped back, causing Valente, who was hired on Dec. 1, to come to the rescue and grab the back end of the state hardware.
There was no more telling moment that came to symbolize Trinity’s rise during a stormy season, which started with coach Ed Stritzel’s 30-day suspension due to IHSA rules violations and ended with the two seniors and their new coach coming together in Saturday’s trophy ceremony.
Valente praised Aylward and McKenna for not allowing the outside distractions from derailing their season.
“Kaitlin and Annie have really bought into this, and the rest of the girls have really bought in because of them,” Valente said. “It has been a long road, but I know what these girls have been through and how hard they’ve worked and overcome and how we’ve bonded as a team. I love this team. I wanted them to end this season with a win.”
The Blazers finished 30-6 and earned their first trip to state since 2006. McKenna scored 25 points and Aylward added 20 points to lead Trinity to a 63-46 rout over Whitney Young in the third-place game on Saturday, March 5.
“Being the only seniors, we tried to lead the team and do as much as we can,” Aylward said. “Leaving with a win is amazing.”
The Blazers, who lost 68-51 to eventual champion Benet in the state semifinals on Friday, March 4, closed out the season with 13 wins in their last 14 games.
Valente said the season was difficult, but satisfying. Stritzel and three assistants resigned on Nov. 30. Valente and his players dealt with off-the-court issues and internal chemistry problems, while still navigating a tough schedule and erasing the hurt from last season’s overtime supersectional loss to Homewood-Flossmoor.
“I felt like it was a no-win situation,” Valente said. “No matter what I did, I felt like I wasn’t going to get credit. … It took me awhile to win the girls over. We spent half the season trying to figure out how we would get through this as a team. It was chaos for a while. I was put into a tough situation. It was for those girls. I had a connection with them and felt close to them and felt they deserved to have somebody on their side because they were confused.”
The Blazers return three starters — sophomores Alisa Fallon, Lauren Lee and Daliyah Brown — next season and should be the leading contender for the state title. Fallon had 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Young. Reserve sophomore center Alex Fanning scored 15 points in Friday’s loss to Benet.
“We couldn’t asked for better seniors,” Fallon said. “They taught us to be mentally tough, and we hope we can continue their legacy. We’ve done so much with this team and had so many accomplishments. It’s not going to stop here. We’re hoping to have two more good years.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @bobnarang
