GIRLS BASKETBALL West splits Woodland games; beats More, loses to Whitnall

The Wauwatosa West girls opened the week with a 55-32 win at St. Thomas More on Jan. 10 and then dropped a 63-46 decision to Whitnall on Friday.

Tosa West started fast and led 17-3 after the first quarter. They led 33-11 at halftime, as coach Ron Gavinski's crew snapped a two-game losing streak.

The Trojans increased the lead to 44-18 after three periods and put eight players in the scoring column. St. Thomas More is 2-10 overall and 2-7 in the Woodland Conference Blue Division.

West got a huge game from sophomore guard Elise Ditscheit, who poured in 21 points, which included six 3-pointers. Junior Latasha Harmon finished with 14 points.

"Our defense trapped a lot in that first quarter and we actually led 17-0 before they hit a three at the end of the quarter," Gavinski said. "Elise had a great game, hitting six of seven from the 3-point line.

"We thought we turned the corner that game. We shot well. Jenna Engel ran the team and Jessica Pike has continued her consistent play."

West played a girl-boy doubleheader at Whitnall (5-4, 8-5), so the girls had to play at 6 p.m. The Whitnall athletic director wanted the boy's game to start at the regular time (7:30 p.m.), so they took five minutes off the clock for warm-ups and that got the Trojans out of their routine according to Gavinski.

"It was like the end of the world," he said. "The defense started out well, but the offense didn't."

The Falcons took a 20-8 first-quarter lead before the Trojans bounced back with 14 second-quarter points and trailed 35-22 at halftime. A 12-8 third-period advantage for Whitnall gave the Falcons a 47-30 lead going into the final period.

Pike had 11, Harmon added 10 and Abbey Jones scored eight.

The Trojans have lost three of four to drop to 5-5 in conference play and 5-6 overall. New Berlin Eisenhower (10-0), South Milwaukee (7-2) and Whitnall are ahead of Tosa West in the Woodland-Black Division.

"Overall they buy into the program," Gavinski said. "They are playing hard, but they aren't consistently shooting. That's what hurts us.

"We work hard to get the ball, but then if they had two feet in the water, facing the right direction they still can't spit in the ocean."

On a disappointing note, senior guard Paige Soles is out with an athletic code violation for five games.