Girls basketball: Beaver Dam wins Oak Creek tournament.
Golden Beavers dominate start of each half
Oak Creek — Not many teams can simply flip a switch and exert dominance. The Beaver Dam girls basketball team appeared to be one of those.
The Golden Beavers turned on the intensity about 6 minutes into each half and cruised to an easy 69-41 victory over Brookfield East on Friday night in the championship game of the Oak Creek Christmas Tournament.
Senior point guard Cassidy Trotter scored a game-high 17 points and led a pressure defense that forced 27 turnovers as Beaver Dam (10-0) played up to its No. 2 ranking in the Journal Sentinel area poll.
“That’s the kind of team we are and that’s what we’re looking to do: get the pace going,” said Beaver Dam coach Tim Chase. “It’s hard to do sometimes. Brookfield East is a quality team. They have a nice inside game and they move the ball pretty well on offense.”
The Spartans (7-3) started strong, forcing four turnovers and jumping to a 12-5 lead while committing just one turnover in the first six minutes. From there, the Golden Beavers started pressuring the ball out on the floor. East committed 14 turnovers over the final 11:40 of the half, and Beaver Dam closed the half with a 28-9 run for a 33-21 lead at the break.
The second half mirrored the first.
East didn’t commit a turnover in the first five minutes and trimmed the deficit to 37-29.
From there, Beaver Dam again turned up the heat, forcing 12 turnovers the rest of the way.
“In the second half we were trying to get more steals,” Trotter said. “That’s kind of our game. So we had that run where we were just getting after the ball, and that changed the momentum toward us.”
Sophomore Paige Schumann (13 points) drilled a three-pointer to start a 26-8 run that pushed the edge to 63-37. In that span, the Golden Beavers forced 10 turnovers.
“We have the depth, so we’re always trying to go at it,” Trotter said. “We were kind of slow at the beginning, just kind of letting them dictate the game. But as soon as we got ahold of it, we knew we had to push it more. That definitely helped us.”
The aggressive defense did lead to some foul problems, but the Spartans couldn’t cash in, making just 9 of 20 free throws in the second half. East finished the night 11 for 24 from the line.
The Spartans advanced to the title game with an upset victory over host Oak Creek on Thursday night. Friday represented a chance to see how the young Spartans measured up against a top team.
“We have to be more consistent,” East coach Michael Goodman said. “That’s the downside of not having any seniors. Ten games into the season, there are no more excuses for lack of experience, but we don’t have a true point guard.”