Boys split week with one win and one loss
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The road through the 2014-15 season continues to be a bumpy one for the East Troy High School girls basketball team.
But all the Trojans can do is keep plugging away.
East Troy hung with host Evansville through the first quarter Dec. 19, but a 20-9 second quarter was too much to overcome in a 61-37 Rock Valley Conference loss.
The Trojans fell to 0-7 overall and 0-6 in the RVC.
Evansville posed a number of challenges for the Trojans to deal with, East Troy coach Jeff Brown said.
“Their guards were very difficult to (deal with),” he said. “We had trouble getting into our offense because their guards were so tall and lanky.
“They played a 1-3-1 zone, so we had trouble getting past that first line of defense. Once we did, we were OK, but we definitely had trouble doing that all night.”
Adding to the Trojans’ woes was the loss of leading scorer Katrina Santos to foul trouble early in the second quarter. Santos was whistled for her third foul less than two minutes into the period.
Once she went to the bench, East Troy had difficulty putting anything together, Brown said.
“They got going offensively a little bit and had some kids who were pretty talented and took advantage of Kat being out of the game,” Brown said.
“She’s too good a player for us, basically our only height, our best rebounder on the team and our best inside scoring threat.”
Another factor was shooting, as East Troy made just 11 of 50 attempts, including just three of 23 from behind the 3-point arc.
“We got shots, we just didn’t make shots,” Brown said.
Santos led the way with 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks, followed by Jenna Hodges with seven points, seven rebounds and three steals. Katie Hodges added six points, three rebounds and three steals, while Maddie Rosin had six points and three rebounds.
East Troy battled visiting Edgerton right to the end Dec. 16, but couldn’t get over the hump in a 44-40 RVC loss. The Tide outscored the Trojans 15-9 in the fourth quarter and that was the difference.
Brianna Casper led the way with 19 points, including three 3-pointers, four rebounds, four assists and six steals. Santos added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Rosin grabbed five rebounds.
“We’re seeing steps of improvement,” Brown said. “The real bright spot of that game was Brianna Casper. She played real, real well.”
East Troy now is idle until Dec. 30, when it hosts Mayville. The Trojans then will compete in the annual Badger Tournament Jan. 2 and 3.
“We finally have a little time (to practice),” Brown said. “We don’t have to hurry and get ready for a game. We can just work on fundamental, basic stuff and try to get kids individually a little bit better.”
Boys split pair
Visiting Racine Case outscored the East Troy boys 19-10 in the third quarter Saturday night in a 57-51 non-conference victory.
The loss dropped the Trojans to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the RVC.
Will Iloncaie led the Trojans with 13 points, followed by Jake Remsza and Logan Parsons with nine and Joe Ciriacks and Matt Kaminski with eight. Both Parsons and Ciriacks each made two 3-pointers.
East Troy opened its week with a 73-60 RVC win Dec. 18 over visiting Clinton. The Trojans built a 42-24 halftime lead and cruised from there.
Jonathan Ciriacks drained seven 3-pointers en route to a team-high 23 points. Kaminski and Iloncaie added 13 points apiece, followed by Jonathan Mackenzie with 10 and Remsza with seven.
East Troy made 12 3-pointers in the contest.
The Trojans are back in action next week when they travel to the two-day Pewaukee Tournament. East Troy plays Marquette Dec. 29 and Catholic Memorial Dec. 30.
