Basketball team making progress, coach says
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The learning curve for the young East Troy High School girls basketball team is shrinking by the day.
And while the Trojans remain winless through four games – it’s clear they are making steady progress.
East Troy dropped two hard-fought Rock Valley Conference games last week by a combined total of five points to fall to 0-4 heading into a road contest Tuesday at Parkview. Results of that matchup were unavailable by press time.
The Trojans opened play with a 65-62 loss Nov. 28 at Edgerton, followed by a 51-49 setback Friday night at Clinton.
First-year East Troy coach Maurya Lomen remains optimistic that better days are ahead.
“I’m proud of them for how hard they work and for responding to a new offense and a new defense as well as they have,” she said. “We will continue to work on our fundamentals and our shooting.
“We will get better. At the end of the day, as long as they believe in themselves, we will have success.”
Against Clinton, the Trojans had a final shot to tie the game, but a late turnover iced the victory for the Cougars.
Erin Rice led the way with 22 points, followed by Mackenzie Lindow with 13 and Addy Lomen with 10. Rice and Lindow both made three 3-pointers, while Lomen knocked down two from behind the arc.
As a team, East Troy was 8-for-37 from 3-point range and 15-for-31 from the free-throw line.
“The game was back and forth,” Lomen said. “We controlled the ball and the tempo most of the game. But our shots just didn’t fall again. We continue to get good looks, but no one has ever had the go-ahead to shoot as much as they do now, and they are still adjusting.”
Lomen was pleased with other aspects of her team’s effort – but in the end, the game came down to being able to consistently put the ball in the basket.
“We just did not shoot well,” she said. “We took care of the ball and didn’t turn it over. We also rebounded much better than at Edgerton, but in the end, our shooting percentage was poor, especially from the free-throw line.”
Scoring drought sinks Trojans
The week’s first came was a tale of two very different halves.
East Troy sprinted out to a 45-28 lead at halftime, but Edgerton outscored the Trojans, 37-17 in the final 18 minutes to pick up the three-point win.
“I’ve been telling the girls all year to shoot,” Lomen said. “Shooting is as much confidence as it is anything. They were feeling it in the first half and shooting really well.
“But at the start of the second half, we missed a couple shots, and we went on a scoring drought for quite a long time. We did end up getting back in the game again, but fell a few points short in the end.”
Rice battled foul trouble to finish with 18 points on the strength of three 3-pointers, followed by Lomen with 15 and Lindow with 14. Lomen also drained three 3-pointers, while Lindow made two.
For the game, the Trojans knocked down 10 3-pointers – but struggled from the free-throw line, where they were 18-for-27.
“These girls are young, (and) the shot will come around,” Lomen said. “We work on it every practice more than anything.”
