By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
Just in case holding the No. 1 ranking in state wasn’t enough, the Whippets’ girls basketball backed it up by winning its 20th straight game of the season by 20 points on Feb. 18. The Whippets finished the regular season going unbeaten in RVC play for the second straight year thanks to an undefeated state championship run a season ago.
The team traveled to East Troy for its final game of the regular season on Feb. 18 and doubled them up, 28-14, entering halftime. The final score was 50-30 and Myriama Smith-Traore led all scorers with 16.
Seven Whippets scored in the game compared to East Troy’s four and Smith-Traore added 12 rebounds, eight steals and four blocked shots to her stat-line, which were all game-highs. As a team, the Whippets had 15 assists compared to its 19 turnovers committed, but also recorded 19 steals in the process and turned East Troy over 22 times.
With the win the girls have now won 40 straight RVC games including three straight RVC titles. The team has now concluded regular season play and will begin WIAA tournament play at 7 p.m. on Friday at Whitewater High School when they play Beloit Turner.
Beloit Turner defeated East Troy in overtime, 41-38, in the opening round of the tournament. Beloit Turner enters Friday’s game with a 14-9 record on the season. Beloit Turner also plays in the RVC, so the two teams are familiar with each other.
In the only contest the two teams played against each other during the regular season, Whitewater dominated at home with a 70-51 victory. Smith-Traore led all players with 20 points, 18 rebounds and eight blocked shots in that game.
If Whitewater advances on Friday, the team will likely host a game the very next day on Feb. 27 for another 7 p.m. tip-time against the winner of Edgewood-Big Foot.
