By Adam Knoll
Sports Correspondent
In what was a justified run toward state, the Lady Whippets stumbled against Brodhead and brought their season to a close, 47-42 in the WIAA Sectionals. In what head coach Judy Harms described as a “quiet locker room”, all that the girls can do now is think about what might have been, and begin to move toward next year.
“Brodhead is a very nice team, and they did an outstanding job defensively, especially on Brooke Trewyn and Sarah Schumacher tonight. We knew staying out of foul trouble was going to be a big key, but we also needed to do a better job making shots,” Harms said.
Indeed, the two things that stick out the most about this defeat is that leading scorer Trewyn was held to just two points. During the season, if Trewyn was not scoring, someone else was, and on this night, the Whippets top three scorers (Kailey Reynolds, Rebekah Schumacher and Myriama Smith-Traore) score only 32 points collectively. On the other end, Brodhead’s Carly Mohns put in 22 to lead the game.
As was the trend during the season, the Whippets held Brodhead to just 11 points in the first half. What Whitewater did not do is use that time to distance themselves as they have been doing this season, and in the second half Broadhead scored 18 points in each quarter. The Whippets could not keep up, scoring 12 and 16 points in those respective quarters.
What might be looked at a bit more closely was the discrepancy in the two teams’ foul shooting. Granted, Brodhead did a bit more driving in the lane yet in a five-point result it’s fair to wonder if Brodhead’s 27 foul shots to just four for the Whippets played a role in the outcome. Brodhead hit 18 from the line to only two for Whitewater.
Looking to the future, there are positives signs for the team but also challenges they will face.
All-time leading scorer Brooke Trewyn will be graduating, yet most of the other scorers on the team will be back again next season.
When the team lost Trewyn for a portion of this past season, the squad proved able to win games with defense and quality scoring, that is what the team will need to use to again be players for the conference title next season.
After the somber loss, Harms was still thankful toward those who followed the team.
“Thanks to all who supported us this season, we appreciate our fans, and just wished it could have resulted in a happier ending,” she said.
