West Bend East tops Watertown

By Kevin Wilson of the Daily Times staff
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 12:41 PM CST

Watertown junior guard Erienne Lauersdorf scored 21 points in a losing cause as the Gosling girls lost to West Bend East 46-44 Tuesday night at WHS. (KEVIN WILSON/Daily Times)

Watertown girls basketball coach Todd Hoffman figured it might be a messy race in the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference this season.

At this rate, it better be.

The Gosling girls gave away a pivotal game between .500 teams trying to stay in the league hunt Tuesday, as visiting West Bend East pulled out a 46-44 victory at WHS.

Watertown (4-5, 3-2 in conference) overcame a 9-0 deficit to start the game, then blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter against East (5-4, 3-2).

Leading 38-30 with six minutes remaining, the Goslings surrendered a 14-2 run in a span of five minutes to trail 44-40 with 1:12 to go.

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Sophomore guard Lauren Gruber sparked the Suns with seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter, including a banked in 3-pointer to cut it to 38-35 and later a steal and layup with less than two minutes left to give East a 41-40 advantage.

A transition basket by senior forward Mary Spies and two free throws pushed East's lead to four, but the Goslings would rally to tie on junior Leanna Lillge's baseline drive and junior Erienne Lauersdorf's driving shot in the lane with 37 seconds left.

The Suns scored what proved to be the game-winner on senior forward Lainey Thelen's inside basket with 11 seconds left. Junior point guard Morgan Liebetrau set up the winning play and her team-high 11 points came during a critical stretch when the Goslings were threatening to pull away in the second half.

Freshman forward Desiree Smith had a clean look at the basket from the corner on a pass from Lauersdorf as time ran down, but her 3-point attempt drew back iron.

“When I saw it go up, I had my fist in the air because I thought it was down,” Hoffman said. “Desiree continues to improve and gives us an excitement level on the floor. Her and Erienne were aggressive all night.”

Lauersdorf led all scorers with 21 points. Her 10 second quarter points helped put Watertown up 25-21 at halftime, and her 11 second half points were nearly enough to produce victory.

Smith added nine points, while junior guard Lauren Harris and Lillge each added six.

But Hoffman could point to a number of breakdowns in the defeat - the slow start, a 2-of-7 performance at the free throw line, failure to box out on the glass and the inability to protect the ball down the stretch.

“West Bend East did the little things late in the ball game,” Hoffman said. “We didn't. We got up eight and we turned it over at least two-to-one compared to them. We missed our free throws, gave up rebounds late and they converted our turnovers.

“Our experience is not helping us right now. We have a number of veteran players on the floor, and we're not executing, and I have to find a way to fix that. At the same time, we have to start games better, and I don't have an answer for that right now.”

Watertown travels to play Wisconsin Lutheran on Friday.

JV falls, freshmen win: Watertown's junior varsity lost 26-23. Watertown's freshmen won 36-23.

WEST BEND EAST 46, WATERTOWN 44

West Bend E. 11 10 9 16 - 46

Watertown 10 15 11 8 - 44

West Bend East (fg-ft-tp) - Liebetrau 4-1-11, L. Gruber 4-0-9, Thelen 2-0-4, Thull 0-1-1, Feller 2-2-7, E. Gruber 3-1-7, Spies 3-1-7. Totals 18 6-9 46.

Watertown (fg-ft-tp) -Lillge 3-0-6, Lauersdorf 9-0-21, Harris 2-0-6, Smith 3-2-9, McPherson 1-0-2. Totals 18 2-7 44.

Three-point goals - WBE, Liebetrau (2), L. Gruber, Feller; Lauersdorf (3), Harris (2), Smith.

Total fouls - WBE 11, W 9.