The order was clear for Thornwood’s Trinity Chears. First Stagg, then Lincoln-Way West. ‘We want our get back.’

Thornwood’s Trinity Chears watched intently from the grandstands Tuesday night.

The junior guard was picking up trends, plotting strategy — and doing a little bit of wishing and hoping during a certain team’s regional semifinal game against Romeoville.

“I was cheering for Lincoln-Way West,” Chears said. “We lost to them the last time we played, so we want our get back.”

Chears helped make that chance possible, leading the Thunderbirds to a 64-50 victory over the host Chargers in the other semifinal of the Class 4A Stagg Regional.

The 5-foot-5 Chears scored a game-high 18 points for Thornwood (28-4). Jabrea LaCaze added 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Kayla Johnson contributed 16 points.

Ameli Sanchez led Stagg (14-18) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Mary Zielinski had 14 points and eight rebounds, while Abbey Hobart added 13 points.

Thornwood (28-4) will meet Lincoln-Way West (23-9) — a 64-54 winner over Romeoville — at 7 p.m. Thursday for the regional title.

On Feb. 9, Chears had a solid night, scoring 15 points against the Warriors. But the Thunderbirds lost the game 48-47 on a late 3-pointer by Ava Gugliuzza.

“It was frustrating because we knew we could win that game,” Chears said. “We went over film. We had the whole game plan.

“The bad thing we did was come out in the first quarter without energy. We can’t slack when we play against teams like that, and that’s what happened.”

Chears made sure there was no slip-up against Stagg.

She spent much of the first quarter dishing the ball. The Thunderbirds led 22-16 early in the second quarter when she hit her first 3-pointer. Another soon followed. By the half, she had 10 points and Thornwood had a 37-24 lead.

In the end, there was balance in the score book. Three Thunderbirds had 16 points or more.

That pleased Chears more than anything else.

“All of us, everybody on the team is a bucket,” Chears said, smiling. “Everybody on the team can score. It’s a little easier, having a team like that.”

Even so, Chears has been on Thornwood coach Kevin Green’s radar screen for a long time.

“I met Trinity, I think, in the fourth grade,” Green said. “She used to come up to the Calumet City Park District and shoot around. I worked with her a little bit.

“After that, she wound up playing in a league where our assistant coach (Lyndell) Fola was. The next thing I knew, she was at Thornwood.”

Chears played on the varsity as a freshman after being a standout at Coolidge Middle School in Phoenix.

It was a bit of a learning curve.

“When she got here, it took her a minute to understand team ball,” Green said. “At Coolidge, she had to be the do-all, be-all. She was their whole team. It took her freshman year to understand that it’s a team game.”

Chears actually liked the process.

“It was a little difficult to work on passing a lot,” Chears said. “But it was kind of relaxing. I didn’t have to do all the work. I finally had a lot of other options on the team to work with.”

As a sophomore, Chears led the team in assists and steals, while averaging 11.2 points.

This season, she’s upped her scoring average to 17.6 points but has also increased her assists to 5.0.

Coach is very happy. So are her teammates.

“It’s a rhythm now,” Johnson said. “Ever since she got here, we had to learn her game. And once we learned her game, we learned everybody else’s game. Everybody knows their role to play on this team.

“There has always been change with Trinity. She has developed more and more each year. She’s a good player. I love playing with her a lot.”