Sports Wrapups: Dec. 27

Shorewood boys basketball

The Greyhounds leveled their record at 4-4 with a pair of nice wins last week, defeating Muskego, 68-60, in a nonconference game Thursday, after pounding Greenfield, 76-44, in a Woodland game on Dec. 20.

Coach Phil Jones said that it was all about the defense.

"My philosophy has always been, no easy catches," he said. "If they can't catch it, they can't dribble it, they can't shoot it. It's hard work, but it pays off."

The Greyhounds, 2-4 in Woodland play, will now be off until they host West Allis Hale in a nonconference game on Jan. 3.

Against Muskego, the Greyhounds were down 52-49 going into the fourth quarter, but outscored the Warriors, 19-8, to pull away with the win.

"At one point in the third quarter, we were down 13, but we kept hammering away at things," said Jones. "We finally got up by two with about four minutes to go by forcing turnovers and hitting a few threes. They then started to miss shots and pretty soon we weren't playing them anymore, just the clock."

Shorewood had its best game at the foul line of the season, hitting 16 of 17 attempts behind guard Deion Jackson-Body's 12-of-12 effort. Jackson-Body finished with 20 points and many of his free throws came in the fourth quarter. Shorewood also hit 10 3-pointers, including five by Kejuan Glosson, who finished with 17 points, while Bobby Kohl and Aaron Bailey had 12 apiece.

Jones praised the efforts of Carmen Purvis, who started for an injured Donovan Freeman, as well as those of Glosson and Kohl (who had to guard the Warriors' leading scorer, David Mlachnik).

Against Greenfield, the Greyhounds trailed 23-20 at the quarter but then outscored the Hustlin' Hawks 56-21 the rest of the way, including a 46-14 showing in the second half.

"Our defense was just excellent in the second half," said Jones.

Jackson-Body had another excellent game with 22 points and nine assists while Bailey had 20 and Glosson 14.

Whitefish Bay girls gymnastics

The Blue Dukes went into the holiday break on a positive note, defeating Menomonee Falls/Germantown in a North Shore/Greater Metro Conference dual meet, 137.275-130.075, on Dec. 21.

Maggie Anderson led the way for Bay, with a winning all-around total of 35.775. She also won the vault (9.15) and the bars (no score available). She was also second on balance beam (9.075) and third on floor (no score available).

Sofie Yang also had a good day, claiming the beam (9.175) and floor (8.9) while Kelly Danek was third on beam (8.725) and Torey Patek was second on bars (8.425) and third on vault (no score available).

Bay's best event was the beam with a 35.5 total.

The Blue Dukes will now be off until Jan. 4 when they host Shorewood in a North Shore dual.

Brown Deer boys basketball

A switch in defensive tactics in the third quarter allowed the Falcons to pull away from Wauwatosa West, 66-57, in a Woodland Conference decision on Dec. 20.

"We jumped out on them pretty well early in the third," said Brown Deer coach Kelly Appleby, "and I thought we did an excellent job of coming back on them. Our transition defense wasn't very good in the first half so we threw a three-quarter court 2-2-1 zone at them to slow them down a little.

"I have no problem running with a team that wants to run with us," he said. We just wanted to control the pace a little."

Brown Deer, which had trailed 32-31 at the half, had a 47-41 advantage at the end of three quarters and then never looked back.

With the win the Falcons improved to 4-2 in the Woodland and 6-3 overall, while West fell to 2-4 and 2-7.

The Falcons were led by the return of Jamon Jackson-Wilson to the lineup. Jackson-Wilson, who had not been available to the team for the last few games, scored 18 points to lead Brown Deer while Desmond Jackson had 17, Donald Harmon 12 and Trayvon Palmer nine.

"Having J.J. back was a big positive," said Appleby. "They also played a 2-3 zone all game and we weren't able to hit many threes in the first half. We had at least six in the second half."

Desmond Jackson had four trifectas and Harmon two for Brown Deer. Appleby said that Jackson is improving by leaps and bounds.

The Trojans' Andre Carroll led all scorers with 25.

"We feel good about ourselves," said Appleby. "We've now have four straight home games with a chanced to put together some good practices and shore things up."

The Falcons took on the Milwaukee Academy of Sciences on Tuesday and now will resume Woodland action on Jan. 3 at home against Cudahy.

Whitefish Bay girls basketball

The Blue Dukes remained unbeaten heading into the holiday break (4-0 in North Shore and 7-0 overall) with a pair of easy wins, including a 52-23 rout of nonconference foe West Allis Hale (1-5) on Thursday and a 44-23 thrashing of North Shore opponent Port Washington (0-4, 2-6) on Dec. 20.

Bay will stay active over the holiday break with a game at home Dec. 29 (7:30 p.m. against Wauwatosa East (2-5).

In the Hale game, a 15-0 third quarter burst ended all the drama and brought the advantage up to 37-11.

Maya Jonas had 15 points to lead Bay while Lindsey Agnew scored 14 and Elisabeth Johnston eight.

Against Port, a 17-8 second quarter improved the margin to 27-15 as the Blue Dukes held the Pirates to just eight second-half points.

Agnew led the way in this one with 13 points while Johnston and Jonas had 11 apiece.

Homestead boys basketball

The Highlanders used a 26-2 second-quarter burst to roll by Cedarburg in a 60-37 North Shore Conference tilt and roll into the holiday break at 8-1 overall and 4-0 in North Shore play.

Homestead hosted the Chekouras Classic this Tuesday and Wednesday.

The big second quarter allowed the Highlanders to break open what had been a close 14-13 game against the Bulldogs (0-4, 2-7).

A total of nine players scored including James Reilly with 17 points and Darius Marshall with 11 while La Monte' Bearden and Luke Worthington had seven apiece.

Whitefish Bay boys basketball

The Blue Dukes broke out to a 28-11 first-half lead and then never looked back in a 71-55 North Shore decision over Port Washington on Dec. 20.

With the win, Bay improved to 3-1 in league play and 5-3 overall. They will now be off until a Jan. 6 game at home against Grafton.

An 18-4 second quarter was the highlight of the first half as four Blue Dukes broke into double figures including Connor Weas with 16, Christian Lane with 15, Joe Sherburne with 11 and Kelin Johnson with 10. Will Davis added nine points for the Blue Dukes and Kelly Garth eight.

In the foul-filled game, Bay was 21 of 27 from the foul line while Port (2-2, 6-4) was 27 of 37.

- Compiled by Steven L. Tietz