Girls Varsity Basketball Beats Undefeated Lake Country Lutheran

After a narrow one-point win at Living Word Lutheran last Wednesday, the girls had a matchup with conference unbeaten Lake Country Lutheran (LCL) on Tuesday night. The girls played tough in the first half to keep the game close going into halftime. In the second half, the Blue Knights found the offense they were looking for. Luci Jensen, Amelia Rigel, and Madison York all hit crucial threes, while Sydnie Dehne and Malaya Taylor hit big time shots inside the arc. LCL was unable to get a shot off in the final seconds, and BA won the game 71-69.

This win improves BA to 9-3 in conference, now just two games back of LCL for first place. The girls play next against Milwaukee Vincent on February 7, at 6 pm at home.

Swim Team

The BA swim team was in action on December 27, competing in the 23rd Annual Metro Swim Officials Association Invitation at Homestead High School in Mequon.

Despite not having three of our current school record holders participating, the team showed resiliency. Led by Adrian Bellido and his victory in the 200 Individual Medley, BA competed strongly against the 16 other teams swimming. 

All participating BA swimmers were able to compete in relays with Adrian, which brought out the best in everyone. Aidan Canga swam to a personal best split of 28.81 seconds in the 50 freestyle, and Shri Kannan, Shariq Ahmad, and Vasu Guda all recorded personal best relay splits for the season.

Photo courtesy of Mark Frohna

Continuing, the team rolled in the new year and competed in the Marquette Invitation at the Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer. Highlights included a 4th place finish in the 200 Individual Medley by Adrian Bellido, who came within two seconds of Kevin Van Cleave's school record. He swam a 1:55. Also, Adrian got 2nd place in the 100 butterfly, missing out on the win by just five hundredths of a second. This was very close to his personal in-season best time ever. His time was an impressive 50.36 seconds.

Further, Shariq Ahmad, Aidan Canga, and Vasu Guda all recorded lifetime bests in the 100 free. This was also a highlight of the meet. Lastly, the team took a stab at the oldest remaining school record in the 400 free relay and came up just short (by a little over a second) of breaking it. Adrian, followed by Niall Parkins, who had a sensational split, along with Rishi Guntur and Andrew Li, swam a gutsy race.

Congratulations to the team on its performance at these meets.

-Coach Larry Lanza

Fencing

On January 21, Brookfield Academy’s fencing team competed at the Great Lakes Junior Varsity Championship, hosted by Marian Central Catholic. 

In men’s foil, Aryan Kapur won five bouts in pool rounds and finished in the 19th spot after direct eliminations (DE's). Kai Suh won one bout in pool rounds, finishing 53rd after DE’s. 

Marina Matson represented the women’s epee team and won three bouts in her pool round. In DE's, she had a bye in the first round, won her second round, and lost the third. She finished 14th overall. 

Camden Pifel, Gus Jurgens, and Harrison Koss all competed for the men’s epee team. Camden won three bouts in his pool round and finished 38th after DE's. Gus also won three bouts in pool rounds and finished 42nd after DE’s. Harrison won five bouts in his pool round and placed 9th. He won the first two DE rounds, then lost to the 25th seed, placing 10th overall. 

Photo courtesy of Mark Frohna

On the men’s sabre team, Andre Pasquini won one of his pool round bouts and placed 63rd. After direct eliminations, he finished in 66th. Logan Pifel won one bout in pool rounds and finished in 56th for direct eliminations. He had a bye in his first round and then lost to the 9th seed, placing 56th. Ben Zou won one bout in pool rounds, placing 61st, and then 65th after DE’s. 

All of BA’s varsity fencers accompanied their JV teammates. Connor Artley and Sohum Sharma provided moral support, while Isaac Jansen and Madison Kob volunteered as referees.

-Junior Madison Kob

Boys Varsity Basketball

The BA boys varsity basketball team is currently on a six-game win streak. BA defeated University School of Milwaukee 87-57, Destiny by a score of 80-39, and beat Living Word Lutheran 68-36.

Against USM, BA took charge early and took a 24 point lead into the halftime break. The team never looked back and went on to win by 30 points. Trenton Rayborn led the team in scoring with 23 points.

Against Destiny and Living Word Lutheran, bench spark Ty Mahnke provided outstanding shooting for the Blue Knights. His four 3-pointers against Destiny contributed to his team high 18 points. In the game against Living Word Lutheran, Ty led the team in scoring with 33 points, including nine 3-pointers.

BA takes on Milwaukee Academy of Science at home this Friday night at 7:15 pm.

Ty Mahnke for three!! Photo courtesy of Mark Frohna

Middle School Basketball

Girls

Level 8

The Level 8 girls team took on first place Christ King on Saturday. BA was up to the task early in the game as they jumped out to an early lead behind the hot shooting of Karina Dhingra and stifling defense by Brooke Nowacki.

Unfortunately, the undefeated squad from Christ King had too much fire power. The girls from BA lost the game by a score of 32-16.   

-Coach Chris Mason

Lucy Schwertfeger looks for an opening in the defense

Level 6

The Level 6 girls basketball team had a terrific team performance, earning a league win on Saturday, January 21, beating St. Dominic by a score of 34-20. The team distributed the ball around all game leading to six different scorers.

Addison Albers and Lucy Allen led the way with 10 points each, while Rachel York chipped in eight points of her own. Great team win!

Rachel York drives to the basket

The team looks to continue this momentum with three games this week, including two league games on Saturday, January 28.

-Coach Geo Peterson

Level 5

The BA Level 5 girls team narrowly lost to Waukesha Catholic, 11-8. Ellie Zimmermann scored six points, while Navy Kehoe scored two. There was great defense by Maggie Mize and Ali Kappl with steals and rebounds.

-Coach Cayley McKowen

Boys

Level 8

After last Monday's win at Brookfield Christian, the Level 8 boys Gold team began a tournament at St. Anthony on the Lake. After wins against Lumen Christi and St. Gregory, BA had a matchup with the host school, St. Anthony. The winner would win the pool and advance to the championship.

In a first half that was dominated by defense, BA found itself tied at halftime 11-11. The boys stepped up in the second half and won the game 30-23. Sutton Demski brought in a team high five rebounds. Eli Wintheiser led the team in assists (four) and steals (three).

Saturday morning, the team got a nice league win against Seton North, 54-28. Ethan Potthast scored 20 points for the team, while Samarth Singh followed with nine points. Zaim Banday secured six rebounds for the Blue Knights, leading the team.

In the tournament championship game on Sunday night, things did not go BA's way. The team collectively had an off night shooting and lost to St. Dominic 48-31.

This loss snapped the team's six-game win streak in what was a fun week of basketball. The boys hold a 9-4 overall record, 4-3 in league play.

Special thanks to the numerous boys varsity team members who came to support the Level 8 boys this weekend!

-Coach Michael Rajchel

Ethan Potthast connects on a deep three in the win against St. Anthony on the Lake

Level 6

The Level 6 boys Blue squad split a pair of games on Saturday. The boys began the day by beating St. Dominic by a score of 34-21. The victory was the 2nd of the season over St. Dominic's, which moved the boys into second place in the Gold division. 

In the second game of the morning, the boys took on the 1st place team from St. Jude. They used outstanding man-to-man defense and a fast paced offense to shut down the boys from BA. The final score was 42-8. The boys played hard but could not match the undefeated St. Jude team.

-Coach Chris Mason