By Dee Grenert Correspondent
BOURBON — A sluggish start left Triton’s girls basketball team in need of a spark.
Enter Aubrey Boardman and Brittany Wallace.
The duo triggered a 23-4 first-half run that helped the Trojans shrug off those shaky opening minutes and seize control en route to a 52-35 win at The Trojan Trench Tuesday.
“Those two, some nights they’ll start, others they won’t,” Triton head coach Adam Heckaman said. “They need to come in ready to go either way. They had something to prove and came in ready to go, which is a good thing because we needed that spark. They scored and they were also our leading rebounders.”
Boardman, who struggled through a scoreless night at Oregon-Davis Saturday, tossed in a game-high 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field, including a triple to give Triton a 25-9 lead with 6:16 left in the first half and back-to-back baskets that put the Trojans up 47-34 with 4:33 left in the game. The junior guard also ripped down nine rebounds, swiped four steals and handed out three assists in a strong all-around game.
“It was good for her confidence,” Heckaman said of Boardman’s point total, which included several jumpers. “After the OD game she was down, but we told her to keep shooting because we know she can hit those shots. She came out and shot the ball well, and hopefully she keeps hitting.”
Meanwhile, Wallace scored all eight of her points in the first half, led the team on the glass with 11 rebounds and contributed four steals.
Triton senior forward Amanda Miller added 15 points — highlighted by three first-half buckets on out-of-bounds plays — and collected a quartet of thefts. Her rebound bucket at the 5:09 mark of the first frame put Triton up 6-5 and accounted for the game’s lone lead swap.
In addition, Savannah Stutzman dished out four assists and helped the Trojans solve Argos’ full-court pressure in the first half, and Allison Thacker racked up four steals.
“It was by far the best we’ve played,” Heckaman said of the last 12 minutes of the first half. “We got our pre-game jitters out by turning the ball over a few times to start the game. We started executing our press breaker and getting the ball to the middle of the floor. We told them if we get it to the middle and break the press, it’s going to be layups and we’ll feast if we hit some jumpers and we did.”

The Trojans also received a bit of help from Argos, which only hit 9-of-52 attempts from the field for a dismal 17.3 percent shooting rate. A good portion of those misfires occurred in the paint where the Dragons yanked down 22 offensive rebounds, but only managed 11 second-chance tallies. Argos also went just 13-for-26 from the foul line.
“We missed 14 shots inside of 5 feet in the first half,” Argos head coach Joel Lowe said. “We told them at halftime, ‘We’re down 20, 14 times 2 equals 28. If we hit those shots, we’re ahead.’ We took good shots, they just wouldn’t fall. We missed free throws and a bunch of bunnies. This is an ongoing problem. It’s something we’ll be trying to solve before our next game Saturday.
“We do attack the boards,” he added. “We’re doing a good job blocking out and giving ourselves second, third, and even fourth chances. Hopefully, we can figure out a way to finish.”
Despite an eight-minute drought from the field starting early in the second frame, Argos, thanks in part to 10 third-quarter Triton turnovers, eventually whittled a 21-point deficit to nine points heading into the final stanza.
Point guard Kassi Hensley carried the bulk of the Argos load, nailing three of her game-high four 3-pointers against Triton’s 3-2 zone in the third quarter. She finished with a team-leading 12 points.
“Kassi’s a senior, and she’s our leader,” Lowe said. “Tonight’s the night she stepped up and said, ‘I’m hitting shots. Give me the ball.’ She’s a great coach on the floor. She hasn’t taken a lot of shots yet this year, but tonight she looked for her shot. She did a good job.”
The Dragons had a couple of chances to pull even closer in the fourth quarter, but turnovers and continued ice-cold shooting ended the comeback attempt.
“We got a little sloppy in the second half,” Heckaman said. “Fortunately, we had a big enough surge in the first half to carry us through.”
Also for Argos, Hannah Alcorn snared a game-best 13 rebounds and Amanda Walker grabbed three steals.
Triton travels to Plymouth Thursday, while Argos heads to Jimtown Saturday.
• TRITON 52, ARGOS 35
At Bourbon
Score by quarters
Argos:   8  18  32  35  
Triton: 19  37  41  52
ARGOS (35): Samantha Stults 1 0-2 2, Alex Zechiel 0 2-4 2, Kassi Hensley 4 0-2 12, Karlee Van Der Weele 0 0-0 0, Kyla Van Der Weele 1 2-4 4, Hannah Alcorn 0 5-7 5, Amanda Walker 1 0-0 2, Latisha Shepherd 0 3-4 3, Brooke Thayer 1 1-3 3, Kayla Prochno 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 9 13-26 35.
TRITON (52): Hannah Downing 0 0-0 0, Aubrey Boardman 8 1-4 18, Allison Thacker 0 2-4 2, Savannah Stutzman 2 0-0 5, Aundrea Sellers 0 0-2 0, Megan Howdeshell 2 0-0 4, Amanda Miller 7 1-2 15, Brittany Wallace 3 2-4 8, Sarah Stichter 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 6-16 52.
3-point goals: Argos 4 (Hensley), Triton 2 (Boardman, Stutzman); Turnovers: Argos 31, Triton 33; Rebounds: Argos 41 (Alcorn 13), Triton 42 (Wallace 11); Assists: Argos 7, Triton 14 (Stutzman 4); Steals: Argos 21 (Ky. VanDerWeele 5), Triton 20 (Boardman, Thacker, Wallace, Miller 4); Fouls (fouled out): Argos 19 (none), Triton 20 (Howdeshell); Records: Argos 1-2, Triton 1-2.