Trojans whip Tosa East girls

The Wauwatosa West girls went on two runs and handed Wauwatosa East a 46-33 defeat Tuesday at Tosa East.

The win improved the Trojans' overall record to 7-9, while the Red Raiders fell to 4-12.

"I thought we were flat emotionally," said Tosa East coach Rob Hamill. It's a shocking statement since the Red Raiders were playing their cross-town rivals. "I asked the team, where was that intensity that we had last week? We didn't have that tonight. I don't know why."

Grabbing an early lead

Tosa West senior guard Jenna Engel playing in her final East-West game got the Trojans off to a good start by scoring five points in the first quarter as the Trojans took an 11-7 lead.

West led 15-10 when Emily Jensen, who used her 6-foot-1 frame well inside, scored twice to cut the lead to 15-14, and then the Trojans went on a 6-0 run to end the half leading 21-14. Abby Jones put in a layup and Jessica Pike hit two jumpers to close out the scoring.

Tosa East trailed 23-14 to start the third period, but then after a quick timeout by Hamill, Jensen banked in a jumper and hit two free throws to cut the lead to 23-18. Jones and Lydia Taylor then exchanged baskets as West led 25-20.

West went on a 9-2 run and East never recovered.

Latasha Harmon hit back-to-back jumpers, Jenna Lehmann added a free throw, Harmon converted two free throws and Lahmann closed out the run with a jumper. East only managed two free throws by Alayah Walls during the run.

"We were down 25-20 and they went on a little run, and we never really came back from that or put together a run ourselves," Hamill said. "You find yourself down double digits with a couple minutes left, and your backs are against the wall. We weren't that effective."

Engel's basket made it 39-26 with 4 minutes, 30 seconds left to play and the Red Raiders cut it to 11 three times, but couldn't get any closer.

Harmon led the way with 15 points, including six in the third quarter and five in the fourth. Engel had nine, Lahmann added seven, Jones and Pike had six each and Elise Ditscheit added three.

All about the shot

The Trojans moved the ball around well against the Red Raiders' zone and hit the open man.

"We've been concentrating the last couple weeks on getting the ball to the open person," West coach Ron Gavinski said. "The kids are buying into that. There were times that we would just be coming down the floor and whoever had it would shoot. They can see the benefits of what's happening. They're doing the right thing."

Jensen did a good job inside with 15 points, but didn't get much support as Ellen Pickering was the next highest scorer. Tosa East was playing without leading scorer sophomore Katie Salmon, who was out with a bad ankle.

"We had a height advantage and we tried to get the ball inside, and that worked out OK," Hamill said. "But we missed so many easy shots. That's tough for us because we don't have the talent level a lot of teams have. We have to make the easy ones. When we don't, it's a little bit disheartening."

One of the reasons for the Red Raiders' problems was the Trojans' aggressive defense.

"Our defense is the best thing we have going," Gavinski said. "When we get after people we keep people from scoring and we get on those runs.

"It's our staple - play hard. If we win, that's what we start with."