By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Three members of the East Troy girls basketball team recently earned All-Rock Valley Conference honors.
Junior Erin Rice led the way with a second-team selection. She was joined by junior Mackenzie Lindow and freshman Addy Lomen, who were named honorable mention.
Rice put together a solid season with 15.4 points, 42 3-pointers, 102 free throws and 5.6 rebounds – and has yet to scratch the surface of the kind of player she can be, first-year East Troy coach Maurya Lomen said.
“Erin did a nice job, despite the fact that she was in foul trouble the better part of the season,” Lomen said. “She knows how to get open, she knows how to create for herself, and she has a dynamic shot. That really helps.
“She’s a great athlete. She has an athlete’s body. I think she adjusted well to the transition to the offense that we were running.”
Foul trouble was just about the only area that Rice struggled, Lomen said, and when she wasn’t on the floor, her absence was clearly felt.
Cleaning up that for next year will only lead to bigger and better things, Lomen added.
“We’re going to work really hard to try and get her to move her feet on defense instead of reaching and (getting) those impulsive fouls,” she said. “She probably only played maybe 60 percent of her minutes because she was always in foul trouble.
“I’m looking forward to next year when we can keep her on the floor more. She’ll be even more dynamic. She certainly is a good athlete and has just a stunning (outside) shot.”
Lindow tallied 9.3 points a game, 26 3-pointers, 8.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 3.3 steals. Her rebound total was good for second in the conference.
“Mackenzie works hard on both ends of the floor,” Lomen said. “She had to guard everybody’s strongest player. Offensively, she was the one who got the ball up the floor, and she was the one we looked to do a lot of our scoring with Erin on the floor. That’s a lot of pressure for a junior.
“She played a huge leadership role. I know we lost a lot of games, but we were in a lot of games up until the last few minutes, and that was in large part because of Mackenzie just going on both ends as hard as she always did.”
Lomen, the coach’s daughter, averaged six points a game and made 25 3-pointers for the season.
“Addy had the luxury of understanding my offense and what’s expected,” her mother said. “We were a very young team. She just understood and had a lot of confidence just to shoot. She works hard on both sides of the floor.
“She’s always moving, and if she’s open, she’s going to shoot.”
A stress fracture in her hip slowed Lomen’s progress last summer leading to the season, but her mother said she’s hopeful this offseason will give her a chance to elevate her game even more.
“I’m hoping this summer she’ll be able to get more shots up and be able to be even more consistent,” coach Lomen said.
East Troy lost just one senior in Samantha Betley, so Lomen is optimistic the future will be a bright one for the Trojans.
“I think the expectations are a lot different,” she said. “I think the kids understand that we as a (coaching) staff are expecting more out of them, believe in them and making it that basketball is exciting.
“… We also had a really strong eighth-grade class. They had a really nice season. We have a few athletes who have some really good athleticism. That’s going to help us a lot with some of the strong freshmen that we had that came up and played at the end of the year with us.”
All-Rock Valley Conference
Girls Basketball Teams
First team
Courtney Schoenbeck (sr., Big Foot), Erin Nyhus (sr., Brodhead), Bethany Oren (sr., Edgerton), Parker Fetherston (sr., Jefferson), Callie Morrison (sr., Jefferson), Gabi Runde (sr., McFarland), Allison Heckert (sr., Whitewater).
Second team
Payton Courier (sr., Big Foot), Reagan Courier (so., Big Foot), Liz Kalk (so., Clinton), Erin Rice (jr., East Troy), Katie Rounds (sr., McFarland), Carson Nitz (sr., Beloit Turner), Kacie Carollo (fr., Whitewater).
Honorable mention
Big Foot: Zanzie Demco, Sophie Foster; Brodhead: Brooke Bescup, Alexis Oliver; Clinton: Payton Severson, Hannah Welte; Edgerton: Jessica Danks, Spencer Stamm; East Troy: Mackenzie Lindow, Addy Lomen; Evansville: Paige Banks, Abby Eftemoff; Jefferson: Jackie Luengas, Olivia Ganser; McFarland: Kaite Hildebrandt, Mary Zahn; Turner: Elise Metzger, Olivia Tinder; Whitewater: Abby Grosinske, Ali Ketterhagen.
Player of the Year – Erin Nyhus, Brodhead. Coach of the Year – Nick Mueller, Jefferson.
