Bay Girls Ready for State Tourney Showdown

Normally the phrase goes, “ladies first.”

Despite the role reversal, the Whitefish Bay girls basketball team has definitely taken a few notes on what going to Madison means after getting to watch the boys team bring home the state title just one week earlier.

“We asked them when they went out (to Madison), and they went there twice, to have a good time, cheer hard for the boys, but every now and again step back,” Whitefish Bay girls head coach Greg Capper said. “Stop being a fan, look around, feel the environment, put yourself down on that floor and ask yourself ‘What mental focus do I have to have to play down there?’”

The similarities between the two teams aren’t just where their seasons will wind down, regardless of the outcome, but also how they got there.

Like the boys, Capper’s team is somewhat of a surprise to make it to the state tournament after knocking off a heavy favorite (New Berlin Eisenhower) in the regional finals.

Like the boys, the girl’s leading scorer is their center, as Maya Jonas averages just under 12 points per game.

And like the boys, the team isn’t comprised of just one or two star players, but rather a blend of many talents in which any player can score when needed.

“If you take a look at it, we’ve had a different leading scorer every game,” Capper said.

“That’s the one thing I’ve learned from watching the state tournament is you have to have more than two scorers. If one guy goes in the tank and shoots 2 for 16, holy cow.”

While obviously you need to put the ball in the bucket to win games, the biggest similarity between the boys and girls teams has to be their relentless defense.

“My coach always says that offense wins games, defense wins championships,” Jonas said.

That has been most evident in the past few weeks, as the Blue Dukes haven’t allowed an opponent to score more than 33 points since giving up 55 to D1 power Nicolet.

In the playoffs alone, Bay allowed just 15, 29, and 18 points, respectively, in their first three games.

Then, in their regional final, the Dukes surrendered just 42 points to an Eisenhower team that averages over 56 and scored more than 60 ten times this season.

“(On) defense I’ve been kicking it up a notch for this tournament because you have to rely on defense to get to offense and I feel like that’s one of our strongest points,” sophomore Elisabeth Johnston said.

Bay will need to keep that mentality as they head into Madison squaring off a Luxemburg-Casco (25-1) team that averages over 58 points per game and is led by a dominating center in Janelle VanderPlas.

“We’ll have our hands full this first night,” Capper said. “They’ve got 6’1” – Janelle’s averaging 22 points and eight rebounds a game, and...the other forward (Kelsey Joniaux) is averaging like 12 points and six rebounds. They’re big.”

The Dukes know the challenge in front of them and already know what to expect when they walk through the doors at the Kohl Center on Friday.

“I’m so pumped,” Johnston said. “We know we can do it. We know we can beat any team if we set our minds to it and we take it possession by possession and we aim to win.”