Tosa West girls crush Messmer, 74-21

Wauwatosa West's 74-21 WIAA regional quarterfinal win over Messmer on Tuesday at home was not the kind of game the Trojans needed to get ready for Friday's semifinal game at third-seeded Whitefish Bay.

The Trojans jumped off to a 33-8 lead at intermission against the Bishops, who finished the season with a 3-18 record. They came out in the second half complacent, but still put together a 23-6 third quarter and took a 56-14 lead into the final quarter.

"It's a good game because it gives you momentum, but it's a different mentality now," Tosa West coach Ashley Imperiale said. "(Friday is a) totally different style of basketball, a totally different team (Whitefish Bay).

Little things key

"It's hard in a game like this when I get upset at the girls when you look at the scoreboard. These (lack of rebounding, turnovers) are the little things that can hurt us on Friday. That makes it really hard. When you have 15-16 year olds they don't get that. A turnover here and there in a game where you're up by 30 vs. Friday when a mistake can make a difference in a possession."

Sophomore Abbey Jones got the Trojans off to a fast start, scoring eight of the Trojans' 16 first-quarter points. Tosa West actually ran off a stretch of 20 straight points from the 49-second mark of the first quarter to the 1 minute, 31 second mark of the second quarter.

Megan Wendelberger (five points), Jess Pike (four), Ashley Colebourne (four), Latasha Harmon (three), Jones (two) and Elise Ditscheit (two) all contributed to that run.

Despite the fact the Trojans came out on a 7-0 run to start the half, as Ditscheit scored five points and Pike two, on a pass from Ditscheit, Imperiale was not happy with her team's play.

Came out complacent

"I thought we came out complacent," she said. "We didn't have that mentality - instead of beating them by 30, let's beat them by 70. We don't have to do it to be mean. Let's just run our stuff. Get our open shots, just do those little things. That's where I got really irritated with them.

"I told them 'Don't look at the scoreboard anymore.' If you can't box out and Whitefish Bay gets two or three possessions, Whitefish Bay will take advantage of those two-three possessions. That's what we need to be thinking about. How can we get better. That was disappointing to see that we came out complacent and flat."

Jones led all scorers with 13 points, while Justice Hawkins scored 12 off the bench in a reserve role and Ditscheit had 10 and played a good floor game.