Oh shoot, Trojans off the mark
Shooting struggles keeping Tosa West girls from stepping up
The Wauwatosa West girls basketball team had a winning record going into this week, but the Trojans still are not an elite team, coach Mike Pietrowiak said.
"Elite teams don't miss layups and free throws," Pietrowiak said, after seeing his team drop a 27-26 game at New Berlin West on Jan. 5 and then blow away a terrible Shorewood team, 60-9, Friday.
If the Trojans could make their free throws, they would have finished the week 2-0. They only converted 14 of 29 free throws in the one-point loss to the Vikings to open the week. That's a "success-rate" of .482.
As it was, the Vikings got a 3-point basket from Anne Kaczynski with 4.2 seconds left to play. To rub salt in the wound, she was playing in her first varsity game.
"They ran a nice pick and roll," Pietrowiak said. "One of our girls played it right, and the other didn't."
Missed chances hurt
Pietrowiak actually called two timeouts in the final 4.2 seconds, but the Trojans didn't execute and couldn't get a shot off.
"We lost the game because we made something like six baskets out of 42 shots and missed 15 free throws," Pietrowiak said. "We did play well through a couple runs and had the lead, but you don't deserve to win when you shoot the ball like that."
The Trojans had the ball a couple times in the last minutes and threw the ball away.
"We missed layups and, at the end, missed a free throw," Pietrowiak said.
Tosa West played good defense, forcing the Vikings into 31 turnovers, but the Trojans didn't help the situation by turning the ball over 21 times themselves.
"We need to concentrate on doing the little things properly on a daily basis," Pietrowiak said.
Jessica Allemang was the only player on either team in double figures with 11 points, while Mariah Smith had eight. Martha Radtke led New Berlin West with nine points.
The Vikings are in fourth place (4-4) in the Woodland Conference Blue and 5-5 overall.
First string gets break
Pietrowiak brought up three players off the junior varsity - two freshman and a sophomore - to play against a weak Shorewood team. He only played the starters a quarter and a half.
"We wanted to try something new with our press," Pietrowiak said. "So we pressed for about three minutes, took an 11-1 lead and took it off. They played a zone against us. So we tried to run our offense and tried to get layups."
Allemang led the way with 14 points, while Ashley Ballinger had 11 and Jenna Engel had nine. Everyone got in the game for the Trojans and 10 players scored.
Tosa West put the game away with a 24-1 first quarter and then outscored the Greyhounds 11-6, 12-2 and 13-0 in each quarter. That translates to 35-7 at intermission and 47-9 after three periods.
"It gave some of our girls game experience, and we had a chance to work on a lot of things," the coach said.
Going into the week, the Trojans were 5-3 in the Woodland Conference Black Division, tied for second with Greendale. Both teams are 6-4 overall. New Berlin Eisenhower is in first (8-0, 11-0).
The Trojans host Greenfield at 7:30 p.m. Friday and then take time off for exams.
- Tom Skibosh
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