Girls take down McFarland
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
East Troy’s A.J. Vukovich has been a scoring machine all season for the Trojans.
And he came up big – twice – last week just when his team needed him the most.
East Troy found itself in jeopardy of dropping its first Rock Valley Conference contest of the year Friday night at Edgerton, but Vukovich scored both the game-tying and winning baskets in the last 30 seconds to lift the Trojans to a 70-68 victory.
The win improved East Troy, ranked eighth in Division 2 by WisSports.net, to 12-1 overall and 10-0 in conference play. Edgerton fell to 6-6 and 5-5.
With East Troy trailing by two points, Vukovich knotted the score at 68-68 with just 28 seconds left. He then added the game winner at the buzzer.
Vukovich, currently 12th in the state in scoring at 26.8 points a game, led the way with 22 points, followed by Michael Polakoski with 19, Chase Cummings with 13 and Quinten Lottig with nine.
Clayton Jenny led Edgerton with 17 points.
East Troy continues to lead the RVC standings by two games over 9-2 Jefferson and by three games over 8-3 Evansville. Beloit Turner is in fourth at 7-4.
The Trojans are back in action Friday night at Clinton for a 7 p.m. contest with the Cougars, who have struggled this year to a 1-12 overall record and a 0-10 mark in conference play.
East Troy defeated Clinton, 93-29, in the first meeting Dec. 13.
Big half lifts girls
The East Troy girls basketball team stayed within striking distance of first-place McFarland last week with a 64-54 conference victory over visiting Clinton.
East Troy took early control with a 32-18 advantage in the first half before the Cougars tried to rally in the final 18 minutes.
The win improved the Trojans to 11-5 overall and 9-4 in conference play.
Erin Rice led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Addy Lomen with 10 points and three steals, Morgan Golabowski with 10 points and seven rebounds and Grace Lomen with 10 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Olivia Roehl had 16 points for Clinton (7-9, 4-8).
East Troy is two games behind McFarland in the chase for the conference title. Whitewater is third at 8-4, followed by Evansville and Big Foot at 7-5.
The Trojans traveled to Whitewater on Tuesday night for an RVC matchup with the Whippets and will host Jefferson on Friday at 7 p.m.
East Troy defeated Whitewater, 69-62, on Dec. 6, and dropped a 57-51 decision to Jefferson on Dec. 11.
