TRENTON — The Trenton High varsity girls’ basketball team had itself right where it wanted to be Thursday in a Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division home game with Hightstown. Then the second half happened. Suddenly, head coach Aja Carter’s players, who had been playing so well despite having a limited bench, fell into a rut they could not escape, and head coach Jenna Marcus’ squad surged to a 57-44 victory. The bad news was this was the second straight game that had happened to the Tornadoes. After building a three-point lead in Tornado Alley Tuesday, Trenton saw Ewing turn the tables for a 16-point win. This one hurt just as much because the Tornadoes had done everything they needed to do in the first half, including getting the Rams’ three tallest girls to pick up their third fouls, while building a seven-point, 30-23 lead. Only one of those three Hightstown players, 6-foot-4 senior center Penelope Swarn, would go on to foul out late in the fourth quarter after the visitors put together a 20-6 rally in the third quarter, a run which included a 13-0 surge. “The first half was a little frantic, so at halftime coach told us to focus on playing together,” said 5-foot-4 Rams senior guard Olivia Roberts, whose 3-point field goal with 3:27 left in the third quarter gave her team the lead to stay. “She told us to play our game and don’t let them get in our heads.” That’s often easier said than done, but, from the time Trenton 5-6 senior guard/forward Jamirah Glanton scored off a broken play with 4:49 left in the third quarter to keep the home team’s lead at 34-28, Hightstown put together its run with plenty of team play. Caitlyn Nagle (10 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots) and Swarn (11 points, 15 rebounds, three blocked shots) each connected on a basket ahead of Roberts’ trey. Then freshman Hayley DeKok fed Swarn for another layup before senior guard Grace Weissenberger scored on the fast break. DeKok, who led all scorers in the game with 21 points, scored from a tough angle before Tornadoes’ 5-5 junior guard Angie Pacheco stopped the string with 1:54 left. “In the third quarter, we were trying to get back, but we kept getting beat on the press,” said Pacheco, who finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and six steals. “We’re trying to do our best, but we’re having trouble sustaining it.” Illness shortened the Tornadoes’ bench, yet it was not that obvious in the first half when Trenton created five lead changes and a pair of ties in rallying over the final four minutes of the second quarter to take the lead at the half as Swarn, Nagle and Yusra Moore all went to the bench in foul trouble. “After halftime, it was a matter of us taking a second to calm down,” said Roberts, a three-sport student-athlete who also plays tennis and golf. “I try to do whatever I can to help the team.” Yesterday that meant Roberts and Weissenberger serving as settling forces for the Rams, while each scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds. The Tornadoes had big performances of their own with Glanton providing 15 points and 18 rebounds and Aaliyah Smith turning in 13 points and seven steals. In the end, it was not enough to hold off another second-half surge by the opposition as Hightstown improved to 9-5, while Trenton dropped to 6-7. HIGHTSTOWN (57) Nagle 4-1-10, Swarn 5-1-11, Weissenberger 3-0-7, ORoberts 3-0-7, YMoore 0-0-0, Wersching 0-1-1, Gulli 0-0-0, DeKok 9-2-21. Totals — 24-5-57. TRENTON (44) Glanton 6-3-15, Harrison 0-0-0, ASmith 5-1-13, Ellerbe 0-0-0, Pacheco 5-1-11, Brown-Johnson 0-0-0, Presha 2-0-5. Totals — 18-5-44. Hightstown(9-5)                   14      9    20    14    —    57 Trenton (6-7)                        11    19      6      8    —    44 3-point goals — Nagle, Weissenberger, ORoberts, DeKok (H), ASmith 2, Presha (T).