Trojans take down Parkview, 43-33
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Even with a difficult challenge against the defending Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 state champions the week before, East Troy girls basketball coach Jeff Brown felt his team didn’t play up to its potential.
But the Trojans didn’t dwell on that 39-point loss to Whitewater – they simply moved on.
East Troy bounced back in a big way last Thursday night with a 43-33 Rock Valley Conference win at Parkview. The victory moved the Trojans above the .500 mark at 8-7 overall and 4-6 in the RVC heading into a home game Tuesday night with Big Foot.
Results of that matchup were unavailable by press time.
Brown said the goal wasn’t necessarily to surpass the .500 mark prior to the Parkview game, but to just see improvement in his young group.
And that he did.
“The goal is just to keep getting better every day and hope the wins start taking care of themselves,” Brown said. “I know these kids are pretty excited to be over that .500 mark. It was a nice win for us to get over that hump.”
Brown said that was the message after the loss to Whitewater – currently the state’s top-ranked team – as the Trojans prepared for Parkview.
“I understand (Whitewater) is really good and all that stuff, but we want to play better than we did,” he said. “That was the goal to try and get better for the Parkview game.”
The Trojans didn’t enjoy a strong shooting night in the win over Parkview, Brown said, but put together a strong effort at the free-throw line.
For the night, East Troy was 15 for 21 from the charity stripe, including a perfect 10 for 10 effort by freshman Mackenzie Lindow.
“The free throws clinched it for us at the end,” Brown said. “When it was time to knock them down, we knocked them down.”
Lindow, who iced the Trojans’ win over Turner last week from the line, scored all 10 of her points against Parkview from the charity stripe.
“She’s gaining some confidence,” Brown said. “Being a freshman on varsity is a roller-coaster ride. … It’s a long season, something they’re not quite used to, and there’s peaks and valleys for a lot of freshmen.”
Katrina Santos, who last week surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career, led the way with 18 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots. Erin Rice chipped in with seven points, while Kayla Casper grabbed seven rebounds and Maddie Rosin had six.
Host Spartans Friday
Following Tuesday’s Big Foot matchup, the Trojans host McFarland Friday night at 7:15 p.m. The Spartans, who defeated East Troy 59-47 before Christmas, entered play this week tied for second in the RVC North with Edgerton.
Whitewater sits alone on top of the standings at 10-0, followed by McFarland and Edgerton at 6-4, Jefferson at 5-5, East Troy at 4-6 and Evansville at 2-8.
The goal remains the same this week, Brown said, as the regular season quickly is coming to an end.
“We want to keep getting better,” he said. “As you get toward tournament time, you want to be playing as well as you can by the end of the year.
“The last five, six years, we’ve done that as a program, and is something we shoot for, to try and get better at the end of the year.”
