Girls will get their turn at state after historic feat
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The last time the East Troy girls basketball team saw Oostburg on the opposite sideline, the Flying Dutchmen ended the Trojans’ first-ever trip to the WIAA Division 3 State Tournament.
In the rematch Saturday with another state berth on the line, there wasn’t any way the Trojans were going to let that happen again.
East Troy jumped out to a big early lead, and then fought off an Oostburg rally before it posted a 54-38 win Saturday afternoon in a sectional final contest at Hartland Arrowhead High School.
The win improved the Trojans to 25-1 overall and sends them to this weekend’s state tournament at the Resch Center, Green Bay. East Troy will face Neillsville (26-0) Friday morning in one of two Division 3 semifinals.
Neillsville won the Division 4 state title a year ago. A state preview appears elsewhere in this week’s edition.
There is plenty of excitement in the Trojans’ camp following Saturday’s win, East Troy coach Jeff Brown said.
“The kids were pretty ecstatic after the game against Oostburg,” he said. “You have to give them credit for hanging in there against two great teams that we had to play in the sectional. Hopefully, we do better than we did last year (at state).”
East Troy was hot early Saturday, as it jumped out to a 20-7 lead after the first quarter. Alicia Oleson helped the charge with two baskets, including a key 3-pointer during the opening eight minutes.
“That was a huge shot that short of catapulted us in the first quarter,” Brown said.
But Oostburg, which had advanced to the last six straight state tournaments, certainly wasn’t going to go away quietly.
The Flying Dutchmen forged a rally of their own, as they outscored East Troy 18-10 in the second quarter to pull within five points at the intermission.
Brown said he changed some things up defensively with the hope his team would be fresh at the end of the game – which may have helped Oostburg put together its second-quarter comeback.
But in the end, the strategy worked.
“We had a little bit of foul trouble and also switched some defenses to rest a little bit,” he said. “When they had to expend a lot of energy to catch up, we were sort of resting some of our starters and doing something a little different so we knew we would be OK in the fourth quarter.”
Oostburg continued its push during a third-quarter defensive struggle, as it cut the deficit to just three points heading into the last eight minutes.
But that’s where East Troy finally ran away from the Flying Dutchmen with a 19-6 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter to ice the victory.
Oleson led Trojans with 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists, followed by Breanna Gaspervich with 15 points and three steals. Rachel Atchison added eight points, while Andrea Olsen had seven points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
One big key in the win for the Trojans was the job they did on Oostburg’s Abby VanStelle, a bruising 6-foot-1 post player who was held to just two points before she fouled out in the fourth quarter.
VanStelle entered the semifinal averaging 15.2 points per game. She had 18 points against the Trojans at last year’s state tournament.
“That’s the one thing we don’t have, is a huge post,” Brown said. “I thing the unsung players in the game were Bryn (Riemer), Frankie (Morris) and Katrina (Santos) for guarding her unbelievably well, fronting her and taking a lot of physical abuse down there from that big kid. They were absolutely awesome.”
Trojans survive semifinal
East Troy advanced to the sectional final with a hard-fought 62-58 win over Kettle Moraine Lutheran last Thursday night at Marquette High School.
The game was tight throughout, Brown said, as both teams came up with big play after big play.
“There was no lead bigger than four points that whole game,” he said. “It tested my blood pressure. It was an amazing game.”
Atchison, who drilled seven 3-pointers and had a game-high 25 points, came up with the big basket with a trey that broke a tie with about 1:05 left in the contest.
Gaspervich added 22 points on the strength of a 12-for-14 effort from the free-throw line and had three steals, followed by Oleson with seven rebounds and five assists. Olsen chipped in with six rebounds and four assists.
The win by East Troy broke Kettle Moraine Lutheran’s 20-game winning streak that it started after three straight losses to open the season.
And it definitely wasn’t easy, Brown said.
“It was an amazing run for them,” he said. “We had a tough, tough game with those guys. It was an interesting battle.”
