Aside from Kinley Asp taking an accidental hit to the face and suffering a bloody nose, not much went wrong for Air Academy on Saturday.

Asp’s Kadet teammates maintained their composure during the 10-minute halt to clean blood from the court and showed no struggle once play resumed.

Asp returned to the court for the Kadets and Air Academy cruised to their second consecutive Trojan Classic title at Trojan Arena with a 53-11 win over host Fountain-Fort Carson.

“Having wins like this is important, especially for the team going forward,” Tatyonna Brown said. “This time I got to feel the win and I know this will help us later in the season.”

Brown missed the 2023 tournament with an illness, but dominated in her Trojan Classic debut.

The Kansas commit opened with a 14-point performance Thursday against The Classical Academy and a 15-point night against Vista Ridge on Friday. By halftime against the Trojans (1-3) Brown had 11 points to lead all scorers.

“I was trying to break their press in the second quarter,” Brown said. “I used my basketball IQ and that helped me see where I needed to go with their press.”

The Kadets (5-0) scored 21 in the third and Brown poured in 6 of her 17 in that frame. But she wasn’t the only Kadet to erupt in the period.

Lydia Flowers entered the second half with 5 points after hitting a 3-pointer in the first and scoring on a put back in the second quarter.

At halftime, Flowers said she needed to make a change.

“One of the things I do if I feel like I’m not locked in for the first half is I’ll change my shoes,” Flowers said. “That reset my mentality to make it truly feel like it was a whole new quarter and a new game. I have a new mindset and I feel like I can go out there and have a new game.”

Flowers went from LeBron James’ XXI Premium shoes in the first half to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s kicks in the second and found her rhythm.

The Kadets senior poured in seven of her 12 points in the third quarter and helped Air Academy build a 48-11 lead heading into the fourth.

“That’s what did it,” Flowers said as she laughed. “In the past I’ve either taken off my shoes, put them back on and re-lace them or just changed them. This year, I was lucky enough to have two pairs of shoes. If I’m having a bad game, I just change shoes and then I have a new mentality.”

Although the Kadets scored just five points in the fourth, Air Academy held the Trojans scoreless in the final period to earn the victory.

With the win, this marks consecutive seasons of at least a 5-0 start for the Kadets. Air Academy started the year 6-0 last season and finished 25-2.

Air Academy players hope to accomplish what they narrowly missed last season, a state title, which would be their first since 2012 when the Kadets won the 5A championship.

To do so, the Kadets realize the importance of “working on the little things.”

“We have so much respect for Fountain-Fort Carson and we’re grateful that they hold this tournament,” Flowers said. “This tournament is big for us because we get to come out here and work on the little things. When we go up to Denver and play against those teams, those little things matter and we want to make sure to nail that stuff down now.”