Photo by Bill Roseberry
Photo by Bill Roseberry
Photo by Bill Roseberry
Photo by Bill Roseberry
Photo by Bill Roseberry
BETHALTO — Allie Troeckler idolized Katie Broadway growing up around Civic Memorial girls' basketball. On Thursday she joined her in an elite club, becoming only the second Eagle player — boy or girl — to score 2,000 career points.
Troeckler scored her 2,000th point in the second quarter of a 60-37 win over Waterloo, CM's Mississippi Valley Conference and home opener. The Eagles improved to 5-0 and 1-0 with the win, while the Bulldogs dipped to 2-3 and 0-2 in the MVC.
Troeckler finished with 27 points, giving her 2,007 in her career. Broadway is the program's all-time leading scorer with 2,079 career points, leaving Troeckler 72 points behind her.
“To reach the same mark that Katie has means a lot because I have always looked up to her since the fifth grade,” Troeckler said. “She's always been my idol for basketball, so this is pretty cool.”
Troeckler's awesome feat came on a midrange jumper just outside of the free throw line with 1:56 remaining in the first half. The CM crowd gave her a rousing round of applause and it was announced over the loud speaker on the next stoppage of play to more thunderous applause.
“I knew I needed 20 tonight, but when I took that shot I didn't know that was 2,000 until everybody started clapping and I was like, 'Oh,'” Troeckler said with a grin. “I was really excited when I found out that was my 2,000th point, but I also knew the game was still going so I had to keep working.”
And working is what Eagles' head coach Jonathan Denney praised Troeckler for on Thursday. He was happy to see her reach the milestone and know she's worked hard for it.
“It's a special accomplishment and she works so hard and I think you saw that tonight,” Denney said. “She really came out to play and thank God because I felt as a team we didn't really show up to play tonight. We got it going in the mid quarters. Allie's a special kid, a special player and she gets all the accolades she deserves. She's one of a kind, a great teammate and she had the midrange jumper going tonight, hit some tough shots and really got it going for us when we were struggling and playing pretty sloppy early.”
Waterloo head coach Steve Wall knew that Troeckler posed a huge challenge on defense and wasn't surprised to see her thrive offensively. She posted a double double with 27 points and 14 rebounds in the win.
“There's hardly anything you can do against Allie, she is a fantastic player,” Wall said. “She's just one of those players you can't really contain. You can't stop her, you can try and hold her down a little bit, but she's going to get hers.”
The Bulldogs shocked the Eagles early on Thursday, racing out to a 12-11 lead at the close of the first quarter. Both teams coughed up the ball five times in the opening frame and CM was 0-of-7 from 3-point land. Troeckler had four 2-point field goals and Kaylee Eaton had three free throws to provide the Eagles' offense in the opening stanza.
“I thought Kathryn Finnerty and Taylor Augustine came out and played strong tonight, but we just couldn't keep that level going throughout the whole game,” Wall said. “That's a darn good team over there.
“I just wanted these girls to play with passion and play with a little bit of heart tonight. I wanted to make sure we made them work for every possession and not just break down the court and get easy baskets, because that's what CM likes to do. I thought we did a great job of that and I thought it got away from us in the second quarter. They started to leak out and you saw the lead start to balloon.”
An Eaton free throw in the final minute of the first quarter sparked a 9-0 spurt that turned into a 25-3 marathon run, allowing the Eagles to construct a 20-point lead at 35-15 with 38.7 seconds left in the half.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Troeckler and Alaira Tyus early in the second quarter opened up some breathing room for CM on offense and allowed it to expand the leed quickly.
“When they realized they had to start guarding the 3 because we were knocking it down that opened up some things inside and we got inside and got what we wanted,” Troeckler said.
The Eagles entered the locker room with a commanding 36-19 lead and Denney was happy to see that, because he wasn't pleased with the early play by his squad.
“We've really done a good job up until tonight of taking care of the basketball,” Denney said of CM, which is fresh off winning the Salem Thanksgiving Tournament title. “It wasn't really anything Waterloo did defensively. I thought they played well offensively, they got their two studs going early and scored some baskets, but we just played bad and made some bad passes. I guess it's just one of those nights where the two freshmen who had been playing pretty well looked like freshmen tonight.
“I do really think the girls that came off the bench, Annika Ochs, Hannah Schmidt, Tori Pfeifer and Monica Baker, I thought they give us a big time spark. They played really well and that's what they need to do when some of their teammates aren't ready to play.”
The Eagles kept rolling in the third quarter, outscoring Waterloo 16-4. Junior Alaira Tyus drained a pair of treys to highlight the quarter. She finished with 11 points to compliment Troeckler.
CM took a commanding 52-23 lead into the fourth quarter and despite better play by the Bulldogs over the final eight minutes, cruised to the victory.
Besides Troeckler's career accomplishment on the night, Denney was recognized prior to the game with a plaque commemorating his 200th career win with the program. That win came on Nov. 19 in a 59-26 win over Althoff in Salem.
“I didn't know it was coming and I would have been OK if they didn't (award the plaque),” Denney said. “People congratulate me on 200, but 201 was a more special win beating T-Town (Teutopolis) in overtime. It's nice for the community and the school to recognize it. I've put in a lot of work over the last 10 years, this is the start of my 11th. It's nice to be recognized, but 200 wins is the result of coaching some really good players and really good teams and having support from the parents and the administration. It has nothing to do with me, it's all about the program.”
Next up for the Eagles is a MVC showdown at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Triad.
CM 60, WATERLOO 37
Bulldogs 12 7 4 14 — 37
Eagles 11 25 16 8 — 60
Eagles (5-0, 1-0) — Kourtland Tyus 4, Anna Hall 2, Allie Troeckler 27, Kaylee Eaton 8, Alaira Tyus 11, Tori Pfeifer 3, Hannah Schmidt 5. 2FG — 16 3FG — 4 FT — 16 PF — 19
Bulldogs (2-3, 0-2) — Sydney Luedeman 7, Kathryn Finnerty 10, Taylor Augustine 16, Destiny Restoff 4. 2FG — 11 3FG — 1 FT — 12 PF — 23