Methodical Blue Dukes One Win From State Trip

Basketball is a game of execution.  Players moving to get open. Working the ball for an easier shot.  Taking care of the ball and not allowing your opponent to score.

The Whitefish Bay girls basketball team showed enough patience on offense and a defense that created numerous turnovers.  When the final horn sounded Thursday, the Blue Dukes advanced to the WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal with a convincing 38-18 win over the Wauwatosa West Trojans.

“We have a fairly long team, we may not be as tall as some other teams,” said Whitefish Bay coach Greg Capper.  “We’re fairly athletic, we have a lot of kids in multiple sports so one of the things we thought would be helpful was to have some pressure defense.”

While the Whitefish Bay defense put in a great effort, it could be argued that Wauwatosa West couldn’t get out of its own way.  

Whitefish Bay scored on its first four possessions, capped by a 3-point shot by senior Leslie Fuda.  Meanwhile, Tosa West committed turnover after turnover and couldn’t even muster a shot on their its four possessions. 

Tosa West would finally get on the scoreboard when sophomore Jessica Pike connected on a 3-pointer.  Whitefish Bay would close out the first quarter with a 12-3 lead, but it would only get worse for Tosa West from there.

The second quarter opened with two points apiece for each team.  However, for Tosa West it would be their only points in the quarter.  Whitefish Bay would rattle off 11 unanswered points to close out the half, extending its lead to 25-5 at the intermission.

Tosa West just could never get their offense on track, and turned the ball over more often than they even had shot attempts.

Meanwhile, Whitefish Bay seemed content with just milking the clock and running its offense. Many of the Blue Dukes points' came after many passes and looks for the easy shot.  Sophomore Elisabeth Johnston was the main beneficiary, as she scored a game high 11 points.  Junior Lindsey Agnew and senior Leslie Fuda each chipped in with six points, Fuda’s points coming on two long-range threes.

Capper explained his team’s methodical approach to the second half.

“We have the lead and they want to play a zone.  We’re going to move the ball around,” said Capper.  “If you want to come out of that zone, then we’ll run some stuff.  We’ll move it around looking for shots looking for good stuff when we see it.”

What they saw was just enough.

“We don’t need to score 100 points to win a game,” said Capper.  “We only need to outscore them by one to win the game.”

The girls team tries to match the boys in qualifying for state on Saturday, when it faces either New Berlin Eisenhower or Wisconsin Lutheran at 2 p.m. Saturday at West Allis Central High School.