By Mike Drooger –

After the Edgerton Flying Dutchmen gals had been defeated by Westbrook-Walnut Grove 41-27 on March 16 in Sub-section 3 tournament action, Coach Andrew Fleischman was cordial enough to grant Ross Kreun of KDWC a radio interview. The coach said, “I compare the end of our season to a baseball player that was called up from the minors. The other teams weren’t really paying attention until he started to have a few good games, and then the scouting report catches up with you. That’s what happened to our girls. Teams learned our strength and we needed to make adjustments. We played great defense tonight and we had only eight turnovers, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop.” The Dutchmen finished the game 10-for-53 from the field for 18.8 percent.

Edgerton’s offensive strength throughout the 2021 season was Reece Wassink in the paint, and Alyda Vande Griend attacking the bucket. Much to the credit of the W-WG Chargers, for the most part, neither of those options were available at Edgerton on the 16th. Wassink did score Edgerton’s first two points (assist Addison Fleischman), and Fleischman assisted Vande Griend in transition for points three and four, but then the proverbial lid went on the Dutchmen basket. Vande Griend’s bucket came at the 11:31 mark of the first half to make the score 5-4 in favor of the Chargers. Over the next nine minutes and 15 seconds, the Dutchmen did not score. At halftime, they were down 22-7 thanks to 3-for-28 shooting (0-for-8 on treys). The Dutchmen had some open looks, but the shots would not fall.

When the second half began, Addison Fleischman was like an application of Anbesol, which provides temporary relief of toothache pain. Fleischman drained back-to-back shots from beyond the arc that temporarily gave Dutchmen players, coaches, and fans hope their team would be able to catch the Chargers. Fleischman’s two buckets from downtown (both assisted by Haley Wieck) cut the W-WG lead to 22-13. But the Chargers regrouped and took a 28-13 lead before “Anbesol” struck again, this time from the top of the circle. Vande Griend got a runner in the lane for a 32-18 score. After Wassink hit a trey from the top of the key, Edgerton trailed 34-23, and they still clung to hope.

The Dutchmen still had a glimmer of that hope around the three-minute mark when Mateya Gil-bertson scored on a putback, but it was a classic case of too little too late, and Edgerton’s season ended with a record of 8-11, which is a tremendous improvement from last season’s 0-23 mark. The EHS girls and coaches are an excellent example of stick-to-itiveness. After going winless in 2019-’20, who could have blamed any of them for quitting? But they didn’t quit and kept working hard to improve.

Coach Fleischman had nothing but good things to say about his trio of seniors—Addison Fleisch-man, Brinna Bloemendaal, and Teagan Leusink—who provided leadership that will be missed next season. Addison did a little bit of everything for her father’s team. Every game she’d lead the team in a positive stat or two—sometimes three or four and was Edgerton’s best long-distance shooter. Bloemendaal underwent a second knee surgery, so played very few games, but she kept everyone loose with a bit of humor here and there. Leusink, according to her coach, “Was a great practice player. She worked our posts hard every day. She is totally unselfish.”