Chargers show dominance
Victory helps team lock up share of Greater Metro Conference title
BROOKFIELD - The transfer of power in the Greater Metro Conference is almost complete and perhaps it is fitting that Sussex Hamilton is the team set to take over the reins.
Other than three-time defending champion Divine Savior Holy Angels, no team in the league had won more conference games over the past three-plus seasons than Hamilton, which had two second-place showings plus a third-place finish last year to show for its work.
This year, the Chargers (15-3, 11-0) have taken a back seat to no team in the league and Friday night they assured themselves of no worse than a share of the league title with a 46-35 victory over Brookfield East.
A victory at home next Friday over Brookfield Central will give Hamilton sole possession of the
title.
“I’m excited but we want the whole thing to ourselves,” senior guard Macy Williams said. “We want to go undefeated. That’s the goal.”
Williams, a 5-foot-7 point guard who signed with the University of Mary, a Division II school in North Dakota, finished with 15 points and five rebounds for the Chargers, who are ranked eighth in the area by the Journal Sentinel. Senior forward Jordan Fierst added six points and four boards, with all of her scores coming during about a 2-minute stretch that helped her team fight off an East rally in the second half. Junior guard Eliana Selin also had six points, going 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the final 31⁄2 minutes.
Brookfield East, meanwhile, dipped to 10-10 overall and a 5-7 in the league. Once 8-3 with victories over Southeast Conference leader Oak Creek and Woodland West leader New Berlin West, the Spartans’ youth – the team has no seniors — has gotten the best of it at times.
Molly DeValkenaere, a 6-0 junior forward, had 15 points for East, 10 in the second half. Lizzy Cagle, also a 6-0 junior forward, added nine points.
“A lot of times the girls are, ‘What’s going on, how do you do this?’ ” East coach Michael Goodman said. “This is their first time in a situation like this, so we’re learning as we go.”
Hamilton allowed just two first-half field goals and led, 23-8, at the break.
The Chargers displayed impressive balance during that stretch as nine players scored in the first half. Only Williams (eight points) had more than one bucket.
That kind of balance has been one of Hamilton’s strengths this season. Besides Williams, who entered play averaging a teambest 15.2 points per game, the Chargers had eight players averaging between 7.4 and 4.1 points.
That balance was put to the test in the second half when East played a box-and-one on Williams. East trimmed that 15-point deficit to 29-24 with about 8 minutes left before Hamilton responded with scores on four of its next five possessions. It was during that stretch that the Chargers found Fierst on the block for three easy buckets.
“We’re not pretty. We’ve been finding a way to win,” Hamilton coach Bill Scasny said. “All the close games, we’ve been able to pull out so that’s a credit to their toughness. Mental toughness.”