Eisenhower boys, girls matching win for win

Which New Berlin Eisenhower basketball team will blink first?

With exactly half the regular season in the books for both teams as of Monday, neither Lions squad has experienced a defeat. The Eisenhower boys and girls teams began this week as the only remaining undefeated teams - out of 42 total - both of them boasting 11-0 overall marks and 8-0 Woodland Conference records.

It has been a terrific start to what could be a special winter for both squads.

"Our kids are competitive, and they've put in the work," Eisenhower boys coach David Scheidegger said. "There is a lot of tradition. Quite honestly, I really think they don't want to let the school down, or they don't want to be the ones to drop the ball. The pride thing is very important.

"They know every time there's a contest, you're going to get the other team's best," he said. "Everyone is going to be ready for Eisenhower. That's just the way it is. It's helped these kids become more resilient. Our kids are tough kids and get used to performing every night out."

Girls dominate opponents

Both units have done just that so far, including wins over Shorewood and South Milwaukee last week. The girls dominated both foes. They whipped lowly Shorewood on the road, 74-18, behind four double-digit point efforts - Anna Hahn's 14, Nicole Bauman and Sarah Potts' 13 each and Kali Shandley's 12 - Jan. 5, and then trounced Woodland newcomer South Milwaukee, 56-27, as Hahn had 22, Megan Tkachuk 13 and Bauman 11.

The Eisenhower boys also had no trouble with Shorewood, topping 70 points for the fifth time this season in a 71-32 home win Jan. 5. Remarkably, no player on either team scored more than nine points, but 13 Lions found their way into the box score with at least one point.

A contest at South Milwaukee was not as easy, but Mitch Sperka led all players with 23 points to lead Eisenhower to a 54-49 win, just the second game decided by five points or less and fifth decided by single digits for the Lions so far this season.

Tough weeks ahead

So which team will succumb to defeat first? The boys certainly have a more immediate difficult row to hoe. After hosting Greenfield on Tuesday, the Lions, ranked second in the NOW Roundball Rankings, face fifth-ranked Whitnall (7-2) and the high-scoring act of senior guard William Pelkofer, who is among the state's most prolific scorers at 25.2 points per game, on the road at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

It will be a must-win contest for Whitnall, which is two games behind Eisenhower in the Woodland Black Division standings.

Two weeks later, the Lions face Pewaukee (10-1), which just suffered its first loss of the season Friday to Whitnall.

The Eisenhower girls, NOW's top-ranked team with a three-game lead in the Black Division, don't face a team with a winning record until hosting Pewaukee (9-1) on Jan. 30.

There is no telling when, or if, one of the Eisenhower teams will lose this winter, but there is clearly a mutual respect between the programs.

"He's been a great cohort," Scheidegger said of Eisenhower girls coach Gary Schmidt, who could not be reached for this story. "We share information. He's just a genuinely nice guy that does a great job with those girls. He's got a few kids there that look like they can play at a higher level. And once you get a couple of those, watch out."