By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The Burlington High School girls basketball team got its second win of the season by defeating Kenosha Bradford 51-36 at Bradford Tuesday.
In the non-conference win, Burlington had to overcome an early deficit to get the victory. With the win, the Demon girls are now 2-10 overall. They are 1-6 in the Southern Lakes Conference.
Bradford led 13-9 after one quarter, but the Demons outscored Bradford 14-7 in the second quarter to take a 23-20 halftime lead.
In that first half, Lacey Scherrer had 12 of her team high 15 points, knocking down four threes.
Burlington built its lead to four points, 35-31, after three quarters and then hit eight of 12 free throws in the final period. Overall, the Demon girls hit 15 of 27 foul shots in the game, while Bradford made just nine of 24.
The Demons had a 16-5 margin in the final quarter. That changed a pattern Burlington had been developing in recent losses where they would tire in the fourth.
Besides Scherrer’s 15 points, Allie Aldrich added 12 as Burlington had two players in double figures.
Aldrich had 10 of her 12 in the second half.
“We’re having a hard time putting the ball in the basket,” Burlington High School head girls basketball coach Gordon Nikolic said after a loss to Westosha Central Friday. “Defensively, we’re playing good enough to win.”
That assessment by Nikolic pretty much sums up the season so far for the Demon girls who dropped to 1-10 overall and 1-6 in the Southern Lakes Conference with the 36-33 loss to Westosha.
In many of the recent games, the Demon girls have played a solid third quarter that placed them in position to get a second win. That was the case against Westosha as Burlington wiped out an 18-12 halftime lead by the Falcons to tie the game at 25-25 going into the final eight minutes.
In many of the games, though, the fourth quarter has proved the downfall for the Demon girls.
“We put so much energy on defense because we’re not putting the ball in the hoop,” Nikolic said, adding that by the fourth quarter, the girls get tired out due to the energy expended on defense.
On Friday, Westosha outscored Burlington 11-8 in the fourth quarter to grab the victory.
Emily Golon had her best game of the season Friday, leading all scorers with 14 points, but had little help from her teammates.
“She’s been coming along nicely,” Nikolic said.
Lacey Scherrer was the only other Demon close to double figures with eight points.
“We’re trying to find one or two (more) players to score 10 or more points,” Nikolic added.
On Friday, Jan. 18, the girls will travel to Racine Horlick for a 7:15 p.m. non-conference matchup.
Next week, they will be at Elkhorn on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. for an SLC game, and at Waterford on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 6:15 p.m. for another SLC game.
The girls are in the midst of a stretch of eight games all on the road.
Elkhorn is 2-4 in the SLC and Waterford 6-2.
-
-
-
-
-