By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
In the midst of a modest two-game losing streak in the past week, the one key factor that worked against the East Troy High School girls basketball team was that it didn’t shoot particularly well.
The Trojans turned that trend around a bit Monday night in Edgerton.
Playing in a rescheduled game from last week, East Troy built a seven-point lead and then put the game out of reach with a 38-14 second-half run en route to a 61-30 Rock Valley Conference victory.
The win improved East Troy to 10-5 overall and 8-4 in conference play. McFarland continues to lead the pack at 9-2, followed by the Trojans and Evansville, Big Foot and Whitewater all at 7-4.
“We battled through some tough plays, and the kids just kept their heads up,” East Troy co-head coach Maurya Lomen said. “(Edgerton) turned the ball over a lot. We just couldn’t convert (early). We weren’t finishing, but in the second half, we just took care of business.
“Our shots just started falling in the second half. We didn’t shoot as much as we typically do, that’s for certain. We just worked the ball around a little more and finished.”
Lomen said Erin Rice, who led the way with 16 points, had two 3-pointers during a key stretch that helped extend the second-half advantage. Grace Lomen added 10 points for the Trojans.
East Troy opened play last week with a 52-41 RVC loss at Big Foot. The Trojans were down by just four points at halftime, but the Chiefs opened things up with a seven-point advantage in the second half.
Grace Lomen led the way with 14 points, four rebounds and five steals, followed by Rice with 11 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Emma Scurek added eight points and 10 rebounds.
“As a team, we just didn’t shoot well,” Lomen said.
Lomen said the goals remain the same, and that’s for the Trojans to keep attacking games one at a time regardless of how the conference standings look.
“We hope we stay in the running,” she said. “But we have a young team. We continue to just focus on trying to get better and focusing on what we do. In our two (recent) losses, we did not shoot well at all.
“Some of that can be attributed to good defense, and some of it is you just have to get the ball in the hole. We’re getting up more shots in practice again. Hopefully, that will help.”
East Troy is back in action Thursday night against visiting Clinton at 7:15 p.m. The Trojans beat the Cougars, 76-60, on Nov. 30.
Clinton had a slow start to the season, but just had a four-game winning streak snapped in a two-point loss to Brodhead. The Cougars enter play at 7-8 overall and 4-7 in the RVC.
“They’re a nice team,” Lomen said. “Kim (Ciochon) does a nice job coaching them. Our conference is very balanced.”
