The Trinity Episcopal Lady Saints weren’t going to back down from a challenge Monday night when they hosted Silliman Institute, who is a classification higher.

In fact, Trinity was shooting for a win, and that is what they got, downing the Lady Wildcats 51-41.

“It was great for us to get the victory,” Trinity head coach Fay Minor said. “I like playing AA and AAA schools, because it pushes and tests us. When we start playing in our district, we’ll be ready to go.”

The Lady Saints started the game hot, jumping out to a 19-7 lead after the first quarter of play, behind Jasmine Ivory’s eight points in the quarter.

But Silliman would storm back in the second quarter, opening on a 13-0 run to take a 20-19 lead.

“I think we started getting tired,” said Minor of the team’s second quarter struggles. “We made some substitutions, and some of them got out of whack and they lost their man.”

Trinity was able to break the Silliman run and go into halftime up 24-22, where Minor decided it was time to dial up some pressure.

“We decided to change our defense to a 3-2 and add some pressure,” she said. “One of the things I knew would work for us is putting in some of our faster players to add pressure up top so we could get the ball.”

With the full-court press in full effect, the Lady Wildcats struggled early in the third to get baskets. The Lady Saints were also having success running the fast break.

“We plan to really work on that full court press and then go back into a 3-2 press on the other end of the court,” Minor said. “We have the speed.”

The game remained tight down the stretch and Trinity took just a one point lead into the fourth quarter.

But, Dionna Jackson decided to take over in the fourth. Jackson couldn’t be stopped in the paint, grabbing rebounds left and right and also putting the ball in the basket.

“The thing is, we have to work on getting those passes down in to her,” Minor said. “I had to really say on offense that I wanted the ball inside.”

Jackson was the leading scorer for the Lady Saints with 15 points.

With the game tied at 41 midway through the final quarter, Trinity once again turned up the heat and shutout Silliman 10-0 the rest of the way to get the win.

“We’re really coming together as a team,” Minor said. “They don’t fuss as much on the floor and they play as a team. I think when we start getting into our district games, we are going to be a team to be reckoned with.”

But for now, Minor wants her team to learn from these early season non-district tests.

“Defensive wise I think playing playing those AA and AAA schools, most of them play really great defense, and I think to match that intensity is pushing my girls,” she said. “They say they are glad when we get done playing those schools, but I enjoy it. It brings out our best and makes us better players.”