First-Half Deficit Too Much for Blue Dukes to Overcome

“An embarrassment to Whitefish Bay basketball.”

That’s how Blue Dukes senior Jessica Switzer described the first half of the Dukes WIAA Division 2 state semifinal game in Madison Friday afternoon.

Luxemburg-Casco (26-1) dominated the first half, building a 30-8 lead, on the way to a 50-39 victory. The Spartans will face New London for the championship, while the Blue Dukes end the season 21-6.

“We wish we had the first half back,” Whitefish Bay coach Greg Capper said. “(Luxemburg-Casco) put on a show. That’s a good team. Janelle (VandenPlas) is a good player. We didn’t seem to have any answers for her in the first half.

“This is a special group. By the time we got to the locker room they were already talking about different ways to beat the pressure in the half court and looking for ways to score.”

Luxemburg-Casco’s attack was no secret coming in: pound the ball down low to senior center Janelle VandenPlas. Bay knew all about the Spartans’ plan of attack, it simply couldn’t do anything to stop it.

The Spartans went down low early and often as VandenPlas, who averages just over 22 points per game, scored on three-straight possessions in the first quarter and netted 16 on 7 of 8 shooting to lead her team to a 30-8 halftime advantage.

“It was nice getting off to a good start,” Luxemburg-Casco coach Brett Killion said. “That’s been something that we’ve been doing pretty well throughout the entire tournament.

Killion said in his halftime talk that he acknowledged Whitefish Bay would probably come out very aggressive and somewhat desperate in the second half to try and change things up.

For a while, that strategy for Bay worked.

The Dukes switched out of their 1-3-1-zone defense into more of a man-to-man style, which slowed the Spartans' offense as they struggled to get the ball to VandenPlas and didn’t shoot particularly well from behind the arc (3-17).

Once Bay had its defense squared away, their offense started to come right along, as well.

Said Capper, “There was a play in the second half where Lindsey Agnew drove into the lane, and in the first half she’d throw up a couple off balanced shots. Second half, Lindsey drives into the lane, the defense collapses, I hear ‘hey, hey, hey,’… there’s Jessie (Switzer) sitting on the wing, she passes the ball and Jessie hits the jump shot.

“There were a number of plays like that in the second half where we started to make basketball decisions like a real basketball team.”

The Dukes outscored Luxemburg-Casco 17-9 in the third and a free throw by freshman Maya Jonas cut the lead to just nine with 2:49 left in the game. Suddenly there was a buzz in the Kohl Center as fans were anxious to see a closer game.

Unfortunately for Bay fans, it was too little too late as the Spartans hit their free throws down the stretch to never let the Dukes get any closer.

“I really think the first half killed us,” Switzer said. “We weren’t star struck, but we kind of weren’t used to being here and we should’ve felt as though we belonged here in the first half like we did in the second half. I think (then) it would’ve been a different game.”

Jonas and Switzer led the way for the Dukes with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

VanderPlas finished with a game-high 21.

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