By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Never underestimate the importance of practice.
The Elkhorn Area High School girls basketball team put together one of its better halves of play this season Feb. 19 in a 54-39 Southern Lakes Conference loss at Wilmot.
Elks coach Jim Henriott said being able to replicate the Panthers in practice helped the Elks prepare.
“It’s nice to have 12 or 12 girls at practice, where you can actually scrimmage and do some things and try and simulate what the other team is doing,” Henriott said. “We were able to do some things in practice and get some people to run what their offense is. You get an idea of what they’re trying to do, rather than just drawing it out on a board every night.”
The Elks (2-20, 2-12 SLC) trailed the Panthers 21-9 at halftime.
“It was a slow-paced first half,” Henriott said. “They stretched it to about 12 or 13 (Wilmot’s lead) in the first part of the third quarter, and we started to make a little bit of a comeback.”
The Elks outscored the Panthers 15-14 in the third quarter and trailed 35-24 at the end of the third quarter.
“We did a better job of handling their pressure and breaking pressure, and getting some easy buckets off of it, and before you know it, with about six minutes left in the game, we were down by four points,” Henriott said.
Henriott said the Elks subbed at that point, and those new to the game were unable to sustain the momentum.
“The kids you have in there, they expend a lot of energy to get back in the game and get to that point,” Henriott said. “We had to sub a little bit, and we made some turnovers. They got baskets, and we went down by double digits.”
Wilmot (11-11, 7-7) outscored Elkhorn 19-15 in the fourth quarter. Abbie Kolacke led Elkhorn with 19 points. Rachel Szyldowski led Wilmot with 17 points.
The Elks played Tuesday at Westosha Central in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal game. The winner plays Friday at Waterford, which is seeded No. 1 in the regional bracket.
