Sports Wrapups: Dec. 27

West boys basketball

The Vikings upset Whitnall of the Woodland Conference Black Division, 51-50, on Dec. 20 in a thriller at West and evened their record at 3-3 in league play and 4-3 overall.

The Vikings were down, 50-48 with 25 seconds left to play, when Jordan McKeon nailed a 3-point shot from the top of the key for the win. Whitnall star Stephen Pelkofer missed a long 25-foot shot on the buzzer, as the Falcons didn't call timeout and tried to score in transition.

The game was a back-and-forth battle, as West trailed 17-14 after one period and 26-24 at halftime. The Vikings finally won the third quarter (14-12) to tie the game at 38-38 going into the final period.

West coach Jeff Lewiston was pleased with his team's balance, as Darin Sowinski and McKeon each had 13 points and Dino Poulos continued to stand out, finish with 10. Mitch Haag (six), Austin Fritz (four) and Matt Rink (three) added key points as West's leading scorer Dan Sidesky was held to two points, 17 under his average, by the defense of Pelkofer.

Pelkofer led all scorers with 17 points and Bryan Nagy had 10 for the Falcons, who had their eight-game winning streak (8-1) snapped and fell out of first with a 4-1 conference record.

"They are not big inside and we hurt them inside," Lewiston said. "After awhile they played some two-man basketball with Pelkofer and Nagy, but that hurt them a little since three guys were standing around."

That was the Vikings' first home win after an 0-2 start. The Vikings have won 10 of 11 from the Falcons.

West girls basketball

The Vikings improved to 4-2 in the Woodland Conference Blue Division, one-half game behind Cudahy (4-1, 5-1) and Pewaukee (4-1, 4-2), by upsetting Whitnall, 33-29, on Dec. 20 on the road.

Seven Vikings got on the scoreboard, led by Stephanie Turner with 10 points, Beth Ver Haagh with seven and Anne Kaczynski with six. Whitnall's Rachel Shulta had 13 points and Ashley Markowiak added 10.

The first half was rather high-scoring as the Vikings led 13-6 - the key quarter - and 22-16 at intermission. Neither team reached double figures in the third or fourth quarters, as the Falcons won the second half, 13-11.

West coach Corey Scheel was not completely pleased with the victory.

"It is always a tough game when we go to Whitnall and I expected it again this year," he said. "I felt we played our worst game of the year to this point. I felt they out-played us and were very good on the boards."

Despite what seemed like a good defensive showing, Scheel shot some holes in that theory.

"Even though we only gave up 29 points, I was unhappy with our overall defensive effort," he said. "We gave them plenty of opportunities that they did not take advantage of.

"They did a nice job in their 2/3 zone and I really thought we handled it well, but we did ourselves no favors either with many missed opportunities inside as well as shooting (1-for-11) from three as well as 10-for-20 from the free-throw line."

Scheel did find some good things in the win for his young squad.

"We didn't play to win, we played not to lose," Scheel said. "The one positive I really took away was that we need to learn how to win the close games with the young group that we have and we got it done that night."

The Falcons fell to fourth place with a 3-2 record in the Black Division, 6-3 overall.

West is 5-3 overall going into the holiday break. The Vikings' next game is 7:30 p.m. Jan. 3 at Pewaukee.

Eisenhower boys basketball

Senior Keith Kahlfeldt scored 23 points and led the Lions to a 75-48 win at Cudahy on Dec. 20, their seventh straight win and sixth Woodland Conference win without a loss.

The first and third quarters were huge for the Lions as they jumped out to a 22-7 lead and rolled to a 41-25 halftime advantage.

Lions coach Dave Scheidegger then fired up his troops at intermission and they put together a 19-10 third-quarter advantage and coasted into the fourth period with a 60-35 lead.

The Packers fell to 2-6 overall, but 0-5 in the Woodland Conference Blue Division.

Kahlfeldt, who had 11 field goals, led the way with 23 points, while Sandro Pesquiera added 14 and Reed Timmer had 13. That still left seven more Lions who got in the scoring act, topped by John Crowley with seven.

Eisenhower (7-0, 6-0) took part in the New Berlin Classic on Tuesday and Wednesday at New Berlin West, facing Pius XI and Franklin, respectively. They open the new year at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 3 at Greenfield (0-5, 0-7).

Muskego girls basketball

The Warriors jumped to a 51-18 halftime lead, then went on to rout Burlington, 72-35, in a non-conference contest on Dec. 22.

Jessica Mlachnik tallied 19 points, while Jessica Cattani added 12 points, Kaitlyn Hein eight and Julia Keegan seven for Muskego, which improved to 5-1 overall.

The Warriors played in the Sheboygan South Tournament earlier this week and will return to Southeast Conference action at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 3 at Franklin (3-0 in the SEC, 5-0 overall going into this week).

Muskego boys swimming

Jon Roberts took part in three pool records for the Warriors in a 121-49 romp over Hartford on Dec. 21.

Roberts won the 50 freestyle with 21.92 seconds and the 100 butterfly in 53.59 seconds and swam with Patrick Walsh, Joe Paquette and Joe Szczupakiewicz to win the 400 freestyle relay at 3 minutes, 22.27 seconds.

Also winning were Walsh in the 200 freestyle (1:51.2); Szczupakiewicz in the 200 individual medley (2:05.39) and the 500 freestyle (4:47.26); Thomas Stigler in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.74); the 200 medley team of Matt Gilson, Stigler, Walsh and Roberts (1:45.15); and the 200 freestyle group of Allan Prichard, Nick Spoerk, Stigler and Szczupakiewicz (1:39.37).

Muskego took the top three spots in three events and went 1-2 in seven events.

"That shows the depth we have on this team," coach Larry Milton said. "Every swimmer gives us valuable team points."

The Warriors improved to 4-0 in dual meets on the season.

"This meet was a good one to send us into winter break," Milton continued. "We will have to regroup in preparation for the championship part of our schedule."

Muskego boys basketball

After seven tries, the Warriors still have not been able to come up with a victory this season.

They fell to Shorewood, 68-60, on Dec. 22 despite 19 points from David Mlachnik, 17 points from Jim Mock and eight by Alex Tesch. Mock netted five 3-point field goals and Mlachnik three as the Warriors hit nine from beyond the arc.

Muskego led 52-49 after three quarters but was outscored 19-8 in the fourth.

The Warriors competed in the New Berlin West Tournament this week and will welcome Franklin (3-0 in the Southeast Conference, 4-3 overall going into this week) at 7:15 p.m. Jan. 3.

- Compiled by Tom "Sky" Skibosh and John Rech