Lady Trojans' Trimiar "Driven" By Will To Rebound

Junior Surpassed Career 1,000 Barrier This Week

  • Friday, February 3, 2017
  • Larry Fleming
Alexis Trimiar
Alexis Trimiar

For a young girl that didn’t have basketball in her future after arriving at Soddy-Daisy High School, junior Alexis Trimiar finds herself basking in a well-deserved spotlight during an otherwise rocky 2016-17 season.

Barely two weeks into the season, coach Drew Lyness lost Summer Ghaffari, the team’s starting point guard, to a knee injury.

Soddy-Daisy goes into Friday night’s District 5-3A game against top-ranked and undefeated Bradley Central with a 6-18 overall record and 1-8 in league play with little hope of avenging an earlier 93-15 loss to the Bearettes.

Since beating Hixson on Dec. 8, the Lady Trojans have lost 13 of 14 games, the lone bright spot a loss to Hixson on Jan. 26.

Trimiar, a stellar shortstop on Soddy-Daisy’s softball team who has already made a verbal commitment to Tennessee Tech, has provided a bright upside to the current hardwood tailspin.

“We’ve struggled this year,” Lyness said Friday morning. “It has been a roller coaster since Ghaffari got hurt and we’ve been able to rely on Alexis. The girls look up to her; she’s the voice of the team and her attitude is great. Our girls look up to her and she’s always like, ‘Let’s go. We’ll be all right and gives us a smile and we roll with it.”

On Tuesday in a 54-50 loss at Red Bank, a team coached by Lyness’ sister, Bailey McGinniss, Trimiar needed one rebound to reach 1,000 in her nearly three-year career.

She got 16 to push her career mark to 1,015 with a few more games this season and her entire senior year to pad that total.

Trimiar is no offensive flunky either, having scored 820 points since starting her first high school game as a freshman.

Fast forward and chew on this statistical nugget.

The 5-foot-11 Trimiar is averaging a double-double this year, pulling down 14.3 rebounds and scoring 11.8 points per game.

On a team that needs every ounce of passionate play it can muster, Trimiar has been performing with the equivalency of a stout-hearted Clydesdale.

“I had very little confidence as a freshman,” Trimiar says. “I didn’t know any of the plays or anything else. In our first game that year, I had played in the JV game and they took me out. They told me I was going to play in the varsity game. I was very nervous. All the seniors helped me out and when I was on the court they would push me to where I needed to go.”

It seems, however, Trimiar always found her way to the basketball. She averaged 11.3 rebounds per game her freshman season. That number climbed to 13.3 as a sophomore and almost 15 now.

Would she rather make a field goal and claim a rebound?

“If I’m near the goal,” Trimiar said, “I’m going to go for the rebound. That helps out my team more.”

Trimiar arrived at Soddy-Daisy knowing she would play softball with the idea of trying to put volleyball on her athletic plate as well. The volleyball thing didn’t work out, she says.

So, Lyness broached the idea to her about playing basketball. At first, she wasn’t convinced. Jared Hensley, the baseball coach and assistant basketball coach then who now also serves as the school’s athletic director, got in her ear.

“I hadn’t played basketball in about a year,” she said. “I went to a coaches’ meeting and they mentioned my name. Coach Lyness and coach Hensley talked to me like every day. Hensley was like, ‘You have to play. You have to play.’ Every day he was saying that. He was scary.”

But, convincing.

Trimiar decided to attend the team’s open tryout and she promptly opened some eyes.

“We knew she could be special when she walked into the gym,” Lyness said. “What we didn’t realize is how immediate her impact would be. Her stats have increased all three years. She’s gotten much stronger and developed a nice shot from the elbow just inside the 3-point line.

“When it comes to rebounding, we always say she’s got magnets in her hands. She can jump out of the gym and things look so easy for her. We go through her now and she has started every game in her career, except one this year against East Hamilton. Alexis is one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached and one of the nicest girls in our school. It’s kind of crazy what she’s accomplished.”

Prior to the current season he was named a team captain, along with senior Kirstie Williams, and won the team’s most valuable player award twice.

Winning the MVP for a third straight year seems like a pretty safe bet.

If that happens, don’t expect Trimiar to be overcome with emotion. It’s not her style. When she was chosen as a captain Trimiar, a quite person by nature, simply took it in stride.

“She smiled, said thanks and moved on,” Lyness said. “She’s not big on recognition.”

Or numbers.

Trimiar leaves the gymnasium following a game and walks to the car and heads into the night, speaking not a word about her most recent on-court effort.

“Leaving the gym I don’t even know my stats,” she said. “My parents (Lindsey and Rod) usually will tell me.”

During a telephone interview, Trimiar reached a noticeably higher level of excitement in her voice.

Why the enthusiasm uptick?

Asked her age, Trimiar said, “I’m 16 and yes, I’m driving.”

When it comes to basketball, as well as softball, the mild-mannered Alexis Trimiar is also driven.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

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