By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
Before the first playoff game takes place for the No. 1-seeded Whitewater High School girls basketball team, the top-ranked team in Division 3 had to play its final regular season game against East Troy.
The WIAA Tournament bracket was released the weekend prior to the game, and it showed that the winner of East Troy-Brodhead would go on to face the Whippets in the second round of the playoffs. The Whippets earned a first-round bye with its No. 1 seed.
In the game on Feb. 16, Whitewater jumped out to a 40-12 lead on East Troy and never relinquished the lead, eventually winning, 66-25. The Whippets would go on to win not only its 21st consecutive game of the season (21-1 overall), but its 56th consecutive Rock Valley Conference game. One week ago, the team clinched its fourth consecutive Rock Valley Conference championship.
Five seniors – Myriama Smith-Traore, Rebekah Schumacher, Whitney Treder, Katie Weaver and manager Sophie Elworthy – were honored against East Troy. With the regular season concluded, first round playoff action took place on Feb. 21.
In East Troy’s first round game against Brodhead, despite having home-court advantage, Brodhead came away victorious. With the win, Brodhead now faces Whitewater in the second round.
That game will begin at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 at Whitewater High School. If Whitewater defeats Brodhead, the team will then play the winner of No. 4-seeded Marshall and No. 5-seeded Clinton in the third round, which takes place the very next day.
Potential trip down memory lane
In a tournament format, many coaches take it one game at a time. However, Whitewater head coach Judy Harms, she said that things are different because there is just one day in-between games, especially considering that a rematch with Marshall could take place. In the first game of the season this year, the Whippets lost its only game – to Marshall – 66-60.
“Marshall was our first game of the season and we’re anticipating … first, we have to take care of business on Friday,” Harms said. “No doubt about that. But, we don’t have practices in-between, so we do have to look ahead to Saturday to some degree. We’re anticipating Marshall and they beat us earlier in the season.
“That’s a game we’ve wanted back all year long. We had way too many turnovers and we have a couple players playing for us now who are playing very well that didn’t play in that game. We’re looking for another rematch against Marshall and we’re just looking to get through this week.”
She mentioned that when the Whippets went 28-0 and won the state title two seasons ago, that team didn’t get the opportunity to cut nets down. One season ago, the team lost in the third round of the playoffs after going 21-1 during the regular season – matching this season’s record. That team didn’t get to cut the nets down either, due to the loss, so Harms’ goal is to cut the nets down at regionals this year.
In the team’s 21 victories this season, Whitewater has won 19 of those games by 10 or more points. When asked whether or not the team has been challenged enough this time around, Harms said quickly that they have.
Numerous games weren’t as lopsided as the score turned out to be. The Whippets played a bad first half in their final playoff game a season ago, Harms said, and now that same 21-1 record going into the playoffs is representative of a better team.
“I would say overall, we’re a lot better at rebounding,” Harms said. “We’re a better transition team and defensively we’ve really stepped it up these last couple weeks. Defensively, we’re much tougher than we were last year. This year, we’re emphasizing the team.”
Whitewater senior forward Myriama Smith-Traore is committed to play at Marquette next season. One of the team’s guards, Rebekah Schumacher, is committed to play at Quincy University, a Division II school. Harms said important the supporting cast around her two star seniors is for a deep postseason run.
“I think last year when push came to shove, we relied way too much on Myriama and Rebekah,” Harms said. “We talked about that before this season even began, about how we can’t go back and do that. Yes, we’re looking for contributions and we’ve gotten great contributions from the starters and a lot of times we have several players scoring in double digits.
“More importantly, we have a couple kids coming off the bench who really make key contributions. We have a freshman in Abby Grosinske who’s done an excellent job all season. We have Whitney Treder who is still our spark plug off the bench. She’s playing really great. And then Jaden Henneman – defensively especially – helps us inside. She’s been sidelined the last couple weeks with a concussion, but she’s due to return just in time for tournament play.”
Coming into this year’s postseason, Whitewater has won 71 of its last 74 games played. That stretch includes the 28-0 year from two seasons ago and this year’s group is looking to win the school’s second state title in three years.
If the Whippets get past Brodhead at home on Friday, the team will play the winner of Marshall-Clinton on Saturday at Whitewater High School. Following that game, the winner will then play its first sectional game at 7 p.m. on March 2 at Janesville Craig.
