Team struggles to hit shots in RVC loss
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Last week’s Rock Valley Conference road contest at Edgerton had the potential to cause some difficulties for the Big Foot girls basketball team.
And by the time the game had ended, that’s just what happened.
Big Foot struggled offensively throughout the night in a 44-30 setback that dropped the Chiefs to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
Edgerton improved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the RVC North, one game behind the state’s second-ranked Division 3 team, Whitewater.
The Chiefs had been scheduled to host Evansville on Tuesday night, but that game was postponed and rescheduled for Jan. 28.
Nothing seemed to work, almost right from the start, Big Foot coach Rick Schoenbeck said.
“(It was a) strange game,” he said. “We were not clicking as a team. Going on the road is tough, especially when it is a conference rivalry.
“This was a physical game, and us being a finesse team, it did affect us. We have struggled when we are being pushed around. We get timid and lose some aggression.”
Edgerton led 23-18 at halftime and outscored the Chiefs 21-12 in the second half.
The final statistics also told the story – Big Foot missed six layups, was zero-for-12 from the 3-point line and 2-for-12 from midrange.
None of those are a recipe for success.
“We were down six with four minutes to go and had opportunity the whole game, but did not capitalize,” Schoenbeck said. “Make a few of those shots and it is a whole different game.
“We were (also) limited to 10 free-throw attempts, which was a season low. Their zone defense prevented our movement to the basket, and we were very cold from the outside. That combination kept us struggling to score.”
Schoenbeck added that, once the shooting struggles began against the Edgerton defense, things just started to snowball.
And that also became somewhat of a double-edged sword, he said, as Edgerton made shots on the other end after it broke through the Chiefs’ defensive pressure.
“The tight zone left the outside shot wide open, but with many misses, the girls lacked confidence to keep shooting and were working (the ball) in for high percentage shots,” he said.
“Edgerton did get a few easy buckets from our full-court pressure, which helped them score a few baskets outside of the half-court offense. We know that the pressure defense helps our half-court offense. We are known for our pressure defense, which affects most teams and is our trademark to success.”
Brooke Wellhausen led the Chiefs with 11 points, followed by Olivia Briggs with eight. Edgerton’s Ashlyn Oren led all scorers with 20 points.
Big Foot is back in action Friday night when it travels to Palmyra-Eagle to face the Panthers at 7:15 p.m.
Palmyra enters the game at 3-9 overall and 1-7 in conference play.
Schoenbeck said he hopes his team can build from the tough outing against Edgerton.
“As a team, we know what we have to get better at,” he said. “We will concentrate on those areas and improve as the season progresses.”
