Trinity Hardy did not want to stop. Even with her team down by an insurmountable margin late in their game with Lehigh, the Army senior guard kept going, trying her best to spur a miraculous comeback, not knowing if her college basketball career was coming to an untimely end.
A miracle on the court did not happen Sunday. Despite leading by five points midway through the third period, Army fell to Lehigh, 74-62, in the Patriot League championship at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa. The title gives Lehigh, 27-6, an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Army is 24-7.
Off the court, there was some good news for Hardy, her teammates and coaches and Army fans. The Black Knight season will continue as Army received an automatic bid into the 48-team WNIT for having the second-best record in the Patriot League.
For Hardy, Sunday was a typical take-charge performance. Averaging around 13 points a game this season, she scored 22 points, most on hard and acrobatic drives to the basket. She also played her usual pesky defense that, along with her teammates, took away much of the Mountain Hawks’ acclaimed three-point shooting strategy.
Hardy, who was named to the first team all-Patriot League team, and teammate Reese Ericson were named to the all-tournament team. Ericson scored only six points on 2-of-6 shooting in the title game.
“We will probably never have another Trinity Hardy,” said Army coach Missy Traversi about the only senior on the Army roster, who played in 86 games and started in 60 for the Black Knights. “She is special in a lot of ways. She has put the team on her back. I can remember in her freshman year when she lit up Manhattan for 26 points. She has been running over people and running past people for four years. I feel very lucky to have had Trinity Hardy in this program. Trinity has meant everything to this program.”
Hardy, as is her nature, gave much of the credit to her teammates.
“It is sad, you never think this day is going to come,” Hardy said. “We may have lost score wise, we did not lose the character fight, we did not lose the hard work, the better team. I am still choosing Army at the end.
“Basically, the whole team is coming back except for me. It is like playing every second left that I have with these girls. We have been through so much and we have had each other through it all. Even though the game might have been over, we were going to fight until the end and always going to fight til the end.”
After losing two games this season to Lehigh, including a 39-point blowout in January at West Point, Army gave the Mountain Hawks all they could handle well into the third quarter, thanks to that defense and Hardy and Camryn Tade, who hit three 3-pointers and finished with 17 points in the game.
But, Lehigh finally came up with an answer to Army’s feisty defense that had corralled the Mountain Hawks’ outside shooting. The taller and more physical Mountain Hawks started pushing the ball into the paint, where a number of their players hit relatively easy layups to take a 64-49 lead with less than four minutes left in the game.
With the inside game humming, Lehigh shot an impressive 60 percent from the floor and the Mountain Hawks were 15 of 17 from the foul line. Lehigh also outrebounded Army, 30-21.
“I think the points in the paint is ultimately what got us,” said Traversi. “They found some easy post up opportunities and, unfortunately, they were just more physical in the paint. I think we got a little tired down the stretch, but we battled for four quarters. I want to commend Lehigh on an unbelievable championship game. They have a lot of different ways to hurtyou offensively. Unfortunately, tonight defensively in the second half, we struggled.”
