West girls off to good start

Since the Wauwatosa West girls team is off this week, I thought I would take a few minutes to look over what I have seen so far.

RECORD: The Trojans have a winning record overall with a 4-3 mark, but more importantly, they have a 4-2 record in the Woodland Conference Black Division, good enough for third place in the six-team division.

The bad news is, the two teams in front of them - New Berlin Eisenhower (7-0, 6-0) and South Milwaukee (5-0, 5-0) - are a combined 11-0 in league play and 12-0 overall. I haven't seen the Rockets play, but the Lions have one of the best teams in the area - maybe the state - and they have a lot more than all-star Nicole Bauman.

COACH: Veteran Ron Gavinski has stepped into his first high school head coaching gig and has done a good job. You have to like a guy who rates victories as 'great,' 'good,' and 'bad' wins. He knows this team's strength is defense and he tries to use his defense to transition into a better offense than it had last year.

They have averaged 39 points per game and if you throw out a terrible 16-point effort against New Berlin West, it jumps to 43 points per game. Defensively, they are allowing 39 points per game.

PERSONEL: The Trojans have no one averaging in double figures, but they do have balance. They have five girls who are averaging between 5.0 and 9.0 ppg. They are also athletic.

Latasha Harmon, a 5-foot-9-inch junior forward, leads the team with a 9.1 ppg mark and she does her damage inside. Paige Soles, 5-6 senior, averages 7.3 ppg and can play either point guard or slide over to the two spot.

Elise Ditscheit, a 5-7 sophomore guard, averages 6.4 points and Jenna Engel, a 5-5 senior guard, and Jessica Pike, a 5-9 junior post, each average 5.3 ppg.

Then there is Jenna Lahmann, a 5-5 senior guard (4.0), Ashley Lindstrom, a 5-8 sophomore guard (3.0), Nyreesha Williams, a 5-6 senior guard (4.5) and Ashley Colebourne, a 5-6 junior guard (4.0) who also contribute.

SCHEDULE: A very rugged schedule awaits the girls. They host South Milwaukee and Pewaukee (4-1, 5-2) on Tuesday and Friday in their next two games.

SUMMARY: It will be interesting to see if the Trojans can stay with the top teams. But that's not what's important in my eyes. What's important is they need to beat the teams they should beat and the result will be a good season.