Girls basketball season opens with young, but experienced squad
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Last year’s East Troy High School girls basketball team gained a ton of valuable experience, as the young squad earned a sectional berth and was knocked out by the eventual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 state champions.
How much that experience helped the Trojans remains to be seen, but they will certainly find out soon enough.
East Troy enters 2014-15 looking to improve from a 10-15 overall record a year ago that included a trip to the sectional semifinal against Kettle Moraine Lutheran.
The season is only a week old, but East Troy coach Jeff Brown has been pleased to this point with what he’s seen.
“The first week went as well as expected,” he said. “Kids really came in eager to work and get better. I think we are further along in putting stuff in then in the past.
“We need to work on everything at this stage. All the kids need to understand their role.”
East Troy closed its first week Saturday with a scrimmage at Wilmot, where Brown said his group had a chance to see where it stood in the early going against a quality opponent.
And that was the point of the short bus ride to face the Panthers.
“The scrimmage was really good for us,” Brown said. “We got to practice against a great team. We found out really quickly what we need to work on.
“We were very organized and understood what we were doing. I really liked our aggressiveness, especially on the offensive end.”
One question that will need an immediate answer is how the Trojans will replace the 11.5 points and 11.2 rebounds per game from junior M.E. Dodge this season.
Dodge, who already has committed to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a Division I volleyball scholarship, decided not to play basketball this winter.
Even with Dodge, the Trojans would have had an “all-hands-on-deck” approach this year, as everyone on the team will have to play a role for them to succeed, Brown said.
“I only have seven kids on the varsity, and I will be leaning on all of them,” he said. “Katrina Santos is our biggest scoring threat coming back, but we must rely on everyone.”
Santos, a 6-foot-2 junior center, enters the year after she scored 13.6 points per game last year and grabbed nine rebounds.
Joining Santos on the varsity roster are seniors Katie Hodges (5-6, guard), Jessi Spaight (5-7, forward), Jenna Hodges (5-6, guard) and Brianna Casper (5-7, guard). They are joined by sophomores Maddie Rosin (5-3, guard) and Kayla Casper (5-10, forward) as the returning girls with varsity experience.
Also listed on the roster are five sophomores and a freshman who Brown said could make an impact on the varsity this season.
Those girls are sophomores Callie Vogel (5-5, guard), Heather Vivian (5-6, forward), Hope Schneider (5-4, guard), Ashley Weber (5-6, forward) and Kaitlyn O’Connell (5-4 guard); and freshman Samantha Betley (5-10, forward).
Several could contend
Looking at the Rock Valley Conference’s North Division, Brown said he expects perennial contender Whitewater to again be among the teams to watch, along with Jefferson and Edgerton.
Should everything come together, Brown said he’s confident his team can make some noise in the RVC this year.
“I think we have a chance to surprise some people in our conference,” he said. “I think a realistic goal is to compete and be in every game we play.”
One key to success will be keeping the seven girls with varsity experience on the floor, Brown said.
“We have to stay healthy,” he said. “We need people to score. We need everybody to chip in and do their role.”
The journey begins for real this week when East Troy travels to Delavan-Darien for a 7 p.m. non-conference matchup with the Comets on Friday. The Trojans open RVC action next Tuesday, Nov. 25, when they host McFarland.
Brown, who will be assisted this year by Evan Hibbs, Dave Lindow and Dan “Shooter” Brown, said he is anxious to get going
“I look forward to every year to seeing the improvement as the year goes on,” he said. “I love watching how teams come together.”
