East Troy girls come home with best finish in school history
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
In a matter of a few seconds Saturday afternoon, the East Troy girls basketball team’s emotions went from elation to pure heartbreak.
And it was the latter that will take some time to overcome.
East Troy and Kewaunee exchanged punches throughout the WIAA Division 3 state championship game at the Resch Center, Green Bay, but it was the Storm who threw the final haymaker in a thrilling 60-58 victory.
Kewaunee’s Jill Kleiman turned the corner against the East Troy defense and found teammate Alex Richard, whose layup touched every part of the basket before it fell through the net with just one second left on the clock.
An attempt by East Troy coach Jeff Brown to get a last-second timeout for a possible miracle shot to win the game was unsuccessful as time expired.
The loss ended the best season in the program’s history at 26-2 overall, while Kewaunee, last year’s Division 3 state champion, closed the year at 27-1.
It was a gut-wrenching finish to a great season, an emotional Brown told the statewide media after the game.
“Kewaunee is a wonderful program,” he said. “They earned that victory tonight. My kids have nothing to be ashamed of. When we talked about winning or losing this game today, we wanted to be sure the other team earned it, and they sure did.
“I’m disappointed for my kids, obviously, but my kids have nothing to hang their heads about.”
East Troy, which led by as many as 13 points in the first half, trailed by three points at 58-55 with 39 seconds left when Rachel Atchison drained a 3-pointer to tie the game.
After a Kewaunee timeout, Kleiman went to work. The play designed in the huddle broke down, but she found the corner and her teammate for the game-winning basket.
“I thought about playing zone (on the last play),” Brown said. “I may be kicking myself for a long time. … But I’d rather lose with my best pitch. I still think our man is our best (option).”
Early on, it looked like the Trojans may run Kewaunee out of the gym.
East Troy built a 17-4 first-quarter lead on a layup by Andrea Olsen with 1:03 left in the first quarter.
But as expected, Kewaunee wasn’t about to go away quietly, as the Storm slowly clawed their way back into the game.
“They’re too good a program to not throw some punches at you,” Brown said. “Even when we had the first run of the game, we said the game wouldn’t be won in the first four minutes.”
A 3-pointer by Kleiman and a three-point play by Kelsey Stangel cut the deficit to 28-23 late in the first half. East Troy answered with two straight baskets by Alicia Oleson, including one as the buzzer sounded to send the Trojans to the locker room with a 32-23 lead.
East Troy held its biggest lead of the second half at 11 points on a layup by Atchison with 5:10 left.
But again, there was the Storm to tighten things up, as they went on a 13-4 scoring run to pull to within two points with just 18 seconds left in the period.
Atchison took a pass from Oleson and made the layup for the Trojans’ second buzzer-beater of the game to build the lead back to four points and set up the thrilling final eight minutes.
“I thought the tempo switched a little bit in the third quarter,” Brown said. “They kept after us a little bit. We stopped driving to the basket.
“I thought we turned the ball over a few too many times (in the third quarter) and they started making a few shots. Maybe I screwed up by not taking a timeout sooner. I’m going to take all responsibility for this loss. It’s not my player’s loss. It’s my loss.”
Kewaunee finally took its first lead of the game at 48-46 on a layup by Stangel at the 5:27 mark of the fourth quarter. The lead exchanged hands several times from there the rest of the contest.
Atchison led four Trojans in double figures with 21 points, followed by Breanna Gaspervich with 13, four assists and four steals. Oleson added 10 points and four assists, followed by Olsen with 10 points and four steals.
Stangel had a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds for Kewaunee, followed by Richard with 16 points and Kleiman with 11.
Ending with class
The medal ceremony after the game was tough for Brown and his team to watch – but he also wanted his squad to finish the year as it started, with complete class right to the end.
“We were going to show them a lot of class because they deserved class,” he said. “It hurt to stand out there and watch them get the Gold (ball) instead of us. But we talk about class all the time and doing the right thing.
“The hardest part about this isn’t the loss. It’s that I’m going to lose 10 great kids that I like to work with every day. I can’t ask for better kids. They are wonderful basketball players and great, great kids. That’s what I’m going to miss the most and that’s what hurts the most right now.”
A season wrap up and the announcement of a number of post-season awards will run next week.
