By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
One big quarter by the opposition continues to be too much for the Westosha Central girls basketball team to overcome.
In two games last week, the Falcons hung with both Wilmot and Elkhorn for three of each game’s four quarters – but in the other eight minutes, Central went cold offensively.
And in the process, the Falcons fell twice, 67-45 at Wilmot Jan. 3, followed by a 64-40 loss at Elkhorn three days later.
The two Southern Lakes Conference losses dropped the Falcons to 1-4 in conference play and 2-8 overall.
In the loss to Elkhorn, the hosts exploded for a 25-point first quarter and held a 17-point lead after the opening eight minutes.
“Their size really gave us some problems,” Central coach Brian Lussier said. “They had three or four shots at the basket and we couldn’t get a rebound.
“We lacked some intensity coming out and need to do a better job of coming ready to play right away.”
Central trailed 35-15 at halftime, but played better in the third and fourth quarters, as the Elks outscored the Falcons 29-25.
“In the second half, we played harder and never quit,” Lussier said.
Abbie Reeves led the Falcons with nine points, followed by Hayden Krueger, Lauren Zietsma and Megan Ziesmann each with six.
Central hung with rival Wilmot in the week’s first game, as it rallied at the start of the third quarter and cut into a double-digit deficit.
“We started to handle their pressure better and were able to get some open looks after breaking (the press),” Lussier said.
But Wilmot, which led 38-26 at halftime, put together a rally of its own to maintain its 12-point lead with eight minutes left.
The Panthers finally put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, as it outscored the Falcons 16-6 to close out the win.
“We struggled with unexpected pressure … after misses, randomly in the half court,” Lussier said. “A lot of our mistakes were self-inflicted.”
Reeves had a team-high 17 points for Central, followed by Ziesmann with 10 and Zietsma with nine.