Posted: March 1, 2010 |(0) Comments

Muskego — The Muskego girls basketball team did its best teeter-totter impersonation last week.

The Warriors reached the very top with a 60-57 victory over three-time defending Division 1 state champion Milwaukee Vincent at home Feb. 23, only to drop back down to earth with a 58-50 home loss to Racine Case on Friday, a game that allowed the Eagles to move into a first-place tie in the Southeast Conference with the Warriors before each team closed the regular season Wednesday, after deadlines.

Finally, Muskego was back up Saturday, this time by landing the top seed in the 15-team Brookfield Central Sectional, with Case taking the second seed and Brookfield Central, the Warriors' postseason nemesis, ending up as the three seed.

"(The loss to Racine Case) is a huge wake-up call heading into the tournament," Muskego coach Brian Hirtz said Friday. "We had a big victory on Tuesday and a letdown on Friday. I was proud of the effort. We spent a lot of energy getting back into the game, but we just came up short."

Muskego (16-4, 11-2) finished the regular season at Racine Horlick (8-13, 3-10); Case had a tougher task with Kenosha Bradford (10-10, 7-6).

Playoff bye in round one

When the postseason begins Tuesday, the Warriors will have the night off thanks to a first-round bye. Muskego will host either eighth-seeded Brookfield East or ninth-seeded Horlick on Saturday, time to be determined.

The Warriors have played in the sectional final the last two seasons but lost both times to Brookfield Central.

In the conference showdown Friday, Muskego could have clinched its second straight league title with a victory but started out slowly.

The Warriors switched to a full-court press with a little more than six minutes left in the third quarter and turned the game around. Muskego's press caused seven turnovers and held Case to just six points in the third quarter.

The Warriors continued their climb back into the game trailing, 39-33, to start the fourth quarter.

The press continued to give the Eagles problems in the fourth, and after back-to-back 3-pointers from Sarah Mlachnik and Katie Ellerson the Warriors had tied the game at 41-41 with 5:30 left before Case sisters Samantha and Brette Logic connected on 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to help Case pull away.

Ellerson finished with 21 points and teammate Alyssa Colla had 10.

Vincent win good prep

That duo paved the way to the huge win over Vincent three nights earlier. Ellerson had a game-high 22 and Colla contributed with 19.

"This is just a huge win for the program," Hirtz said. "This is the type of game that was huge for the playoffs - win or lose."

It marked the first time since Feb. 13, 2009, that Vincent (18-2) lost a game to a team from Wisconsin.

A big reason was 6-foot-6 Nicole Griffin, a University of Oklahoma recruit, was limited to 20 minutes because of foul trouble and held to eight points.

Muskego made 25 of 30 free throws; Ellerson made four late free throws that gave the Warriors the lead for good in a fourth quarter that featured four lead changes and three ties.

 

- David Cotey; the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this story