The Wauwatosa West girls defeated Burlington, 49-42, Feb. 18 on the road to close out the regular season with a 9-13 overall record.
The Trojans finished fifth in the Woodland Conference West Division with a 7-10 record.
Tosa West battled the Demons for four quarters, leading 17-13 after one quarter and 26-24 at halftime. The Trojans increased the lead in each of the final two quarters, leading 42-37 after three periods before a low-scoring fourth quarter (7-5).
'We came out on fire hitting almost every shot we took in the first quarter,' coach Ashley Imperiale said. 'We did some good things on offense moving the ball and really getting some good post touches and working that inside-out triangle that gave us quality looks.'
Imperiale got excellent balance with four players scoring nine-or-more points, led by Elise Ditscheit with 11, including two 3-pointers.
Abbey Jones scored 10 points, seven in the first half, but only 4-for-9 from the free-throw line. Ashley Lindstrom had nine points, six in the third quarter, including 5-for-8 from the line, and Latasha Harmon added nine, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. Tosa West was only 14-for-25 from the line (56 percent).
'We were not as crisp as I'd have liked, but we've got a full week to clean things up before Regionals,' Imperiale said. 'I thought our girls responded well to some changes we had to make during the game. This was the first time we saw a box and one and they tried to take Latasha out of the game and we executed our adjustments based on this very well. All in all, we found a way to pull out a win and that momentum is huge for us as tournament basketball is here.'
Sixth-seeded Tosa West played 11th-seeded Messmer (3-16) Tuesday (see separate story) in the first round of the playoffs.