Tosa East hangs with Lady Lancers, but first half deficit too much to overcome

The Wauwatosa East girls battled Brookfield Central in the second half, but a slow start was too much to overcome for the Red Raiders, who lost to the Lancers, 47-38.

The Red Raiders outscored the defending four-time Greater Metro Conference champions, 28-24, in the second half. However, a 23-10 halftime deficit was too much to overcome.

"We missed four free throws in the first quarter and gave up an easy putback hoop near the end of the first quarter after playing good defense through the possession," coach Rob Hamill said. "The score in my mind should have been more like 10-8 at the end of the first. We didn't box and board well early in the game and it set us behind."

The biggest problem of the night for Tosa East was Central senior forward Anna Liewen, who finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds, nine off the offensive glass.

Central's only other offensive threat was sophomore Lydia Rohde, who scored eight points. Sarah Fotsch grabbed 11 rebounds, eight on the defensive end.

"Liewen killed us underneath; 75 percent of their shots came from within five to eight feet of the hoop," Hamill said. "There were a lot of putbacks, especially early and she (Liewen) had the majority of them. She didn't miss many close in.

"We had inside shots too throughout - we missed them. That was another big factor. Liewen uses her size well and won't miss a lot close in. We weren't physical enough with her off the ball to deny her the kind of opportunities she feasts on."

Central took a 12-4 lead in the first period and then outscored Tosa East 11-6 in the second quarter.

"In the second half we picked it up defensively," Hamill said. "They struggled against our full-court pressure and we got a lot of opportunities. We'd narrow it down but then we'd miss a rotation and leave a shooter open and they would convert.

"But we did battle all the way to the end and in the second half we played like the team we really can be. We just have to have a full 32-minute effort."

The scoring was way down - Katie Salmon led the way with nine points, Deniesha Kinnebrew added six and Ellen Pickering and Alayah Walls managed five points each.

"In many ways this was more of a total team effort," Hamill said. "I felt we finally ran our full court press the way we should with the athletes we have.

"I think Deniesha Kinnebrew provided a nice defensive spark in the second half along with Alayah and Katie. Katherine Oleniczak also was able to find a way to penetrate on the offensive end a couple times to create some opportunities at an important point in the second half for us."

The Red Raiders are now 3-7 overall and 2-3 in the GMC.

"Overall, we are on the right track," Hamill said, "but our message to the team after the game was that we were proud to be their coaches in the second half; but we need to take the next steps - execution and consistency-wise - to get wins."