Coach says team off to a good start
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
There’s something to be said about a team that can mesh personalities together to reach a common goal.
That doesn’t always lead to instant success of course, but it’s a great place to start.
And that seems to be the situation for seventh-year East Troy High School girls basketball coach Jeff Brown heading into the 2016-17 campaign – this group already has shown signs that it is ready to work together.
East Troy is looking to improve from a 9-14 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the Rock Valley Conference last season. The Trojans opened play Tuesday night against Milwaukee Bradley Tech.
Results from that matchup were unavailable by press time.
“We’ve had really good team chemistry and good practices so far,” Brown said. “The personality of this team is that they will fight for each other. They will work hard.
“We’re going to try and get up and down the floor. … I feel like we can run the floor. We’ll try to get it going a little bit, and when we don’t, we have to be organized and efficient.”
Brown was fairly pleased with what he saw in a preseason scrimmage Saturday against Wilmot, which is expected to be among the top teams in the Southern Lakes Conference this season.
“We held our own for a little bit,” he said. “A lot of good things happened. It was good to work the kinks out against a good team.”
East Troy returns six seniors, led by fourth-year varsity player Maddie Rosin (5-4, guard), who will serve a co-captain with sophomore Mackenzie Lindow (5-6, guard).
Joining Rosin from the senior class are Callie Vogel (5-6, guard), Kaitlyn O’Connell (5-4, guard), Heather Vivian (5-7, forward), Kayla Casper (5-10, forward) and Ashley Weber (5-7, forward).
Rosin averaged 6.5 points a game last season, while Casper averaged 4.8.
Brown has been pleased with Rosin’s growth as a team leader.
“This is her fourth year as a varsity basketball player,” he said. “Sometimes seniors realize, ‘This is it.’”
The lone junior on the roster is Samantha Betley (5-10, forward).
Lindow, who averaged 6.1 points a game and made 23 3-pointers as a freshman, is joined by five other sophomores – Erin Rice (5-6, guard, 6.9 points a game), Kylie Moker (5-6, guard), Belle Vebeten (5-4, guard), Morgan Leising (5-7, forward) and Jenna Gulig (5-8, forward).
Brown said he didn’t have any reservations about picking Lindow as a co-captain, even though she’s just a sophomore.
“Mackenzie is just a natural leader who works unbelievably hard,” he said.
“When I named her a captain, the seniors had no qualms about Mackenzie being a captain. … They probably respect her more than most seniors would with a sophomore.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Trojans is replacing the graduated Katrina Santos, who led East Troy in scoring (17.8 points per game) and rebounding (12.6) a year ago.
“When you lose Katrina, you lose a lot of rebounding, interior defense and interior scoring,” Brown said.
“When you lose somebody who is a 1,000-point scorer and the all-time leading rebounder, I don’t know if you replace her, but you need somebody to show up.”
The race toward the RVC title still goes through Whitewater, Brown said. The Whippets, who two years ago won the Division 3 state title, were 16-0 in conference play last year.
Whitewater returns 31 points a game combined in NCAA Division I Marquette University recruit Myriama Smith-Traore (17.4) and Rebekah Schumacher (13.6).
“Until they leave, it’s Whitewater,” Brown said. “They just have a winning tradition over there. They’re just loaded.”
East Troy was 5-11 in the RVC North last year, and Brown is hoping to see his team slide up the standings.
“If we could finish somewhere in the middle of the pack, it wouldn’t be the worst thing,” he said. “But you just play, just keep plugging away and try to get better.”
Brown is assisted by Dave Lindow, Paul Kielas, Steve Collins, Carly Larsen and volunteer Dan “Shooter” Brown.
The Trojans return to action tonight when they host Brown Deer in a 7:15 p.m. nonconference contest.
