Eisenhower takes control of Woodland Black
Second-place Greendale no match for Lions in league showdown
Feb. 15, 2010 | 0 comments
New Berlin — Junior forwards Anna Hahn and Amy Borkenhagen worked inside, while senior guard-forward Kali Shandley and sophomore guard Nicole Bauman scored from the outside and on drives.
Those four led an extremely versatile attack for New Berlin Eisenhower in a 69-48 romp over Greendale on Friday night in New Berlin. All tallied in double figures, as Hahn totaled 18 points, Borkenhagen and Shandley 14 each and Bauman 11.
Greendale, by contrast, was largely one-dimensional. Senior guard Mary Merg poured in 26 points, including four 3-point goals, but after her, the next-highest point total belonged to senior guard Lauren Piotrowski with seven.
The Lion quartet was especially strong during a 31-point third quarter that enabled Eisenhower to build its lead from 21-14 to 52-37. Borkenhagen tallied nine points, Shandley and Bauman each seven and Hahn six during that period, meaning that 15 points came from the inside and 14 from the outside.
Team has chemistry
Talk about balance.
In fact, most of the principals were indeed talking about balance after the game.
"We work well together," Borkenhagen said. "We just have good chemistry together, and we're just trying to put it all together as a team. There's no one person that always stands out."
Eisenhower coach Gary Schmidt said, "We pounded the ball (inside) in the second half. We know we have some good shooters, but we have to have an inside-outside game. I give a lot of credit to Borkenhagen and Hahn, and to our guards, who got the ball in to them."
Greendale coach Andy Schroeder addressed both Eisenhower's balance and the lack thereof for his team.
"They (the Lions) are just a well-rounded team," Schroeder said. "They can score from all positions.
"(Merg) got all the points for us. When she's scoring and no one else is, that makes it tough. It makes it easy to lock in on somebody and tough for everyone else."
With the victory, Eisenhower made it extremely tough for Greendale in the Woodland Conference Black Division. The Lions improved to 13-1 in the division and 17-1 overall, while Greendale slipped to 10-4 and 12-5, seeing a nine-game winning streak come to an end.
The game was close early, but Eisenhower used scoring runs of 6-0 in the first quarter and 7-0 in the second to go up 19-7. The Panthers took advantage of some mistakes and crept within 21-14 by the half.
Coming out strong after half
That's when the Lions harkened back to their only loss of the season, to Pewaukee two weeks ago, for incentive.
"We were up by three at halftime (against the Pirates)," Hahn said, "and (the third) was really the quarter where we didn't really put in our best effort. We decided in the locker room (on Friday) that (this time) we were going to come out strongly and just try to put the game away as soon as we could."
Eisenhower turned up the defense, forcing a turnover, blocking a shot and coming up with a steal by senior guard Megan Tkachuk, all in the first minute and a half of the third period.
That led to a 13-0 run, with points from Hahn, Borkenhagen, Shandley and Bauman, to boost the margin to 36-16. Later, Bauman and Shandley each hit 3-pointers as the lead remained near 20 points.
Greendale attempted to rally as Merg nailed a pair of 3s to cut it to 52-37 after three periods, but the Lions opened the fourth with an 11-0 burst to put it away at 63-37.
"We were a little bit choppy (in the first half)," Schmidt said. "We just weren't in our rhythm. In the second half, I thought we changed it up. Our intensity came up real well."
The Lions will try to clinch the undisputed Woodland Black crown Saturday, Feb. 20, when they play host to Whitnall (5-9, 5-11). They earlier posted a 58-27 victory over the Falcons.
Greendale will be playing for second place in the division when it welcomes Wauwatosa West (10-4, 13-5), trying to avenge a 47-31 loss to the Trojans earlier this season.
STREAK-BUSTERS
New Berlin Eisenhower ended two nine-game winning streaks last week by beating Divine Savior Holy Angels on Feb. 9 and Greendale on Friday. Here are the details:
DSHA: last loss came Dec. 28, 49-48, to Oshkosh West … Dashers had an average winning margin of 19.3 points during that streak. … Record is 10-1 in the Greater Metro Conference and 11-7 overall.
GREENDALE: last loss came Dec. 29, 51-41, to Plymouth … Panthers had an average winning margin of 11.7 points. … Records is 10-4 in the Woodland and 12-5 overall.
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