For Naperville Central senior guard Trinity Jones, surpassing milestones has become routine.
Jones’ latest achievement even went unacknowledged by the school’s public address announcer. The Clemson commit‘s putback with 1:00 left in the second quarter on Monday night made her the 14th player in program history to score 1,000 points in a Redhawks uniform.
Jones accomplished the feat in less than two seasons. She played her sophomore season at Bolingbrook and missed her junior season after suffering a torn ACL.
“It felt good,” Jones said. “When I was at Bolingbrook, I also did my 1,000th point there, so it just felt like another day.”
Jones finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds on Monday. But she left unsatisfied because Loyola, which won the Class 4A state title in 2024 and finished fourth last season, pulled away for a 65-49 nonconference victory in Naperville.
“I’m really hard on myself,” Jones said. “Whatever points I had tonight, I still don’t think I did good. I didn’t do very well on defense or offense, and tonight was an off night on shooting. But that’s OK. It happens to everybody.”
Indeed, everyone had an off night for the Redhawks (13-3), who made just 15 of 55 shots. Jones was 9 of 26 against an elite team that focused entirely on stopping her and senior point guard Erin Hackett, who finished with eight points and five assists.
Loyola coach Jeremy Schoenecker said his goal was to hold Jones to less than 25 points. The Ramblers (15-2) fell just short of that.
“Obviously, coming into the game, we knew she is an amazing player, hard to defend, so we had a big game plan on her,” Loyola senior guard Marycait Mackie said. “It was a great team game. We all did our role and had a lot of fun out there.
“She’s a great player who is going to go on and do great things.”
Jones already has done many great things, including twice breaking the program’s single-game scoring record that had been held by former WNBA star Candace Parker. Jones also led the Redhawks to their third Dundee-Crown Komaromy Holiday Classic title. The other two came with Parker in the lineup.
Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum recalled that Parker scored her 1,000th point on Jan. 3 of her second season, two days earlier than Jones did it. But Nussbaum said that milestone pales in comparison to what Jones did in her previous game on Dec. 30.
The Redhawks trailed Maine South 62-40 late in the third quarter of the Komaromy Holiday Classic championship game. Jones then scored 10 straight points and recorded 36 of her game-high 40 points in the second half as Naperville Central rallied to win 77-74.
Also in that game, Hackett passed Erica Carter into third place on the program’s career scoring list. She has 1,686 points, fewer than only Parker (2,753) and Mia Lakstigala (1,862).
“What Trinity did last Tuesday was pretty unbelievable,” Nussbaum said.
The Redhawks appeared poised for another great comeback against Loyola, using a 10-2 run to pull within 40-37 on Jones’ layup at the 3:20 mark of the third quarter. But they missed their next 12 shots as the Ramblers went on an 11-0 run.
“They’re more disciplined,” Jones said. “They listen to their coach very well. I’m pretty sure he watched our film, and he really broke it down to the girls, and they went through basically everything we do in our practices.
“They just really took the time to see what we do and make sure they can stop it, which they did tonight.”
Even so, Naperville Central sophomore guard Jaliyah Brown said the game was a learning experience.
“This helps us continue to grow as a team,” Brown said. “Playing teams like this is what is going to help us improve, and I think coming back from that big (deficit) helps us stick together and buoy each other up throughout the tough times.”
Playing with Jones has buoyed Brown.
“For me, it’s great,” Brown said. “Throughout practice, she’s always there to lift us up, make sure we’re good at all times.
“She’s overall a leader off the court and on the court. She’s good at building relationships with all of her teammates and helping them play.”
Jones sounds like she has already put her latest milestone in the rearview mirror.
“Obviously, on to the next game,” she said. “Job’s not done, as Kobe said, so we’ve just got to keep on moving.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
