MORGAN TOWNSHIP | Trina Coleman knows there's no tomorrow.
The Morgan Township junior guard scored 12 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 25 points as the Cherokees raced past Kouts 52-42 in the opener of the Class A Morgan Township Sectional on Wednesday night.
"It's go big or go home," Coleman said. "I told my teammates to leave it all on the floor. We wanted to leave it all here, because there's no tomorrow."
Coleman also had five steals, five assists, two blocks and three rebounds.
"She's pretty good," Morgan Township coach Kevin Krieger said. "She played well in all facets of the game. She's been our leader from Day 1."
It took Coleman a few minutes to get going. She scored her first basket -- a 3-pointer -- with 1:40 left in the first quarter, then scored 10 in the second.
Coleman scored once on a coast-to-coast layup after her monster blocked shot on the Kouts end. She then scored back-to-back buckets off a layup and another coast-to-coast layup off a steal.
Coleman scored half of Morgan's points in the first half, and nearly outscored Kouts (14 points).
The Fillies (10-11), who beat the Cherokees (12-10) in the regular season, shot a woeful 5-of-25 shooting in the first half.
Morgan Township extended its 10-point halftime lead to 13 on a Coleman layup with 4:30 left in the third.
"We knew Kouts was a second-half team," Coleman said, "so we wanted a fast start. We knew they'd make a run and bounce back."
Kouts did bounce back in the second half, thanks to Jayla Crump, who finished with 13 points, and Allie Zimmerle, who finished with seven points.
Kouts trimmed Morgan's lead to seven in the fourth quarter on a Isabella Wireman 3-pointer. She finished with 12 points.
"We knew we needed to defend (Crump) and (Zimmerle) really well in the first half and not give them any easy buckets," Krieger said. "That was a big key."
In the second game, Washington Township ran out to a 23-6 lead in the first quarter and extended it to 44-10 at the half en route to a 79-21 win over 21st Century Charter. Heather Burton scored a career-high 31 points for the Senators (8-11).
Maddie Johnson left the game after chipping two teeth in a hard fall to the floor.
Washington will face Morgan for the third time in Friday's semifinal.
"We just hope we play a good game," Washington coach Becky Harper said. "The team that shows up and wants it more will win."
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