By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
This summer’s Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 3 Girls All-Star Game will have quite the local flavor to it.
East Troy head coach Jeff Brown, one of his assistants, Dave Lindow, and senior standout Katrina Santos all recently were chosen to participate.
The Division 3 game is set for Friday, June 17, at 12:30 p.m. at the Just A Game Field House, Wisconsin Dells.
Division 5 kicks off the day at 9 a.m., followed by Division 4 at 10:45, Division 3, Division 2 at 2:15 p.m. and Division 1 at 4.
Brown previously coached in the all-star game as an assistant under former Elkhorn head coach Jim Henriott, but this is his first chance to lead a team.
And it’s quite the honor, he said.
“It’s really an honor and sort of humbling to have (my peers) select me,” he said. “Any time you get selected by your peers it means a lot more than anything else.”
Brown was given the chance to pick two coaches to join him – one coach from a different school, Brodhead’s Brian Kammerer, and an assistant – and his longtime friend, Lindow, was an obvious choice.
“I thought it would mean a lot to Dave, with his wife passing away from cancer, to be part of it,” Brown said. “He’s done so much with our program. I thought he’d really like it.”
Proceeds and fund-raising efforts by players and coaches benefit the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer organization – and that insidious disease has directly affected Lindow, as his wife died from cancer.
An added bonus is the chance for both to coach Santos one last time as an East Troy player, Brown said.
She’s definitely deserving, he said.
“She got on (the team) because she has really good numbers,” he said. “She would have gotten on there if I was (coaching) or not.”
Brown and his coaches will have to find a balance during the days leading up to the event – as they want the girls to enjoy the experience, but there’s little doubt the competitive juices will start to flow once the ball tips at 12:30 on June 17.
“You have to let them be themselves, go play and have a lot of fun,” Brown said. “But those kids will want to win, too. They’re all pretty highly competitive kids or they wouldn’t have gotten this far, either.
“You want to have fun. It’s their week, it’s their game, but let’s go win.”
Big Foot’s Morgan Courier also is on the roster, along with Kelsey Bakken and Kiana Canon (Marshall), Sierra Brecke (Platteville), Kylie Moe (Brodhead), Abigail Monis and Meghan Pingel (Lakeside Lutheran), Julie Silloway (Berlin) and Brooke Trautsch (Prairie du Chien).
There is no shortage of talent among that group, Brown said.
“I think I have four or five conference players of the year (on the roster),” Brown said. “It’s just fun to be around good players.
