BRODHEAD — Entering Wednesday’s conference Rock Valley Conference crossover contest, Brodhead was not fazed by East Troy’s size or conference record (6-1). The Cardinals attacked the Trojans for 30 fouls in a 60-51 win.
“It gives us a lot of confidence to know they are in a bigger division and the bigger half of the conference and on top of that. We are a smaller school in the conference and we can still beat the big teams,” Brodhead senior Onnika Williams said, referencing East Troy’s 504 enrollment and Division 3 placement. In comparison, Brodhead’s enrollment is 315, making the Cardinals a Division 4 girls basketball team.
Williams went to the line on the first possession of the game, drawing a foul on Aubrie Cherek. She went 1-for-2, giving Brodhead its first lead. In the entire game, the Cardinals and Trojans exchanged the lead eight times and were tied up another nine times.
After a bucket from Cherek, Allie Dahl regained the lead with a defensive rebound and two on the other end. She extended it to 6-2 with a 3-pointer on an inbounds play. Two minutes later, Dahl picked up her second foul and sat the remainder of the half — 13 minutes.
Although Brodhead’s leading scorer was on the bench — Dahl averages 17.1 ppg — Williams stepped up. She drew three shooting fouls and went 4-for-6 at the line to give the Cardinals a 10-8 lead.
Amya Pluess tied the game at 10 with a pair of free throws, but Williams stole the lead back, grabbing her own miss and putting it back up for two. She extended Brodhead’s lead to 15-10 with another bucket in the post and free throw.
“Usually, I don’t get the ball that much in the post,” Williams said. “We shoot a lot of outside shots. They were feeding it to me, and I was going up as strong as I could and trying to get to the line.”
Williams picked up her second foul with seven minutes left in the half, and just like Dahl, she went to the bench. Schooff kept the Cardinal offense rolling with an and-one. Addison Yates fed Schooff off the pick and roll, and Schooff made her free throw.
Perimeter shooting kept East Troy in the game, though. Valencia Burgos drained back-to-back threes to tie the game at 19. Cherek then gave the Trojans a 22-21 lead with her own basket beyond the arc.
Brodhead tied the game at 22 and 24 with free throws from Schooff and Brenly Jones, but it was Yates’ 3-pointer that gave the Cardinals a 27-26 lead going into the locker room. With 20 seconds left in the half, Brodhead head coach Brian Kammerer urged Yates to bring the ball back out and set up the offense. Instead, the senior trusted her shot and knocked down a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left.
In the first frame, Brodhead had 20 chances at the free-throw line and made 11 of them. The Trojans committed 13 first-half fouls, as five players had two or more against them.
“We knew with their defense that if we got downhill, we could get points and get them into foul trouble,” Schooff said.
Pluess quickly regained the lead in the second half on a fastbreak bucket. Aubrey Vinney grabbed a defensive board and chucked it up the court to Pluess, who had beat every Cardinal up the floor for an easy two. Irelyn Loomis added on with her own basket.
Dahl, who started the second half after sitting much of the first, gave Brodhead a 32-30 edge with a 3-pointer in transition, as no one picked her up. The two teams tied the score thrice again at 32, 35 and 38 before the Cardinals went on a 6-0 run to pull away.
Yates drew Makenzie Feucht’s fourth foul and went to the line for a pair of free throws. After knocking both down, Yates beat her defender for another two. She then took her second charge of the game, giving Cherek her second foul. Dahl and Yates capped the run with a free throw each, giving Brodhead a 44-38 lead.
East Troy got back to within one at 46-45 with a 3-pointer from Ella Pernitzke and a deep two from Vinney. Brodhead quickly repadded its lead back to five.
Williams went to the line for two and missed both of her shots. Dahl grabbed the rebound of the second, though, and put it back for two. She then assisted Jaelyn Hilliard for a 50-45 advantage.
The Trojans closed in again, as Cherek evaded three players on her way to the basket. She had a chance to make it a one-point game with the and-one but missed her shot. Dahl and Loomis fought over the rebound, resulting in a jump ball.
On East Troy’s ensuing inbounds play, Dahl intercepted a pass and took it back for two. She then grabbed a defensive rebound and scored in transition with a hesitation dribble on her way to the basket.
With a six-point deficit and just over a minute left on the clock, East Troy was forced to foul. Cherek fouled out of the game and Pernitzke picked up her fourth, as Schooff went 5-for-6 in the final minute to secure the 60-51 victory.
“During the game, you get into a zone and have confidence in yourself to knock them down,” Schooff said.
Dahl led Brodhead’s offense with 21 points, all but five of which came in the second half. In the post, Williams scored a career-high 12 points. Yates tallied 14. Schooff also finished in double figures with 10 points, going 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Cardinals were 23-for-41 from the free-throw line on 30 Trojan fouls.
