Wotlinski scores 25 points, Peplowski 13

By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
OXFORD — The Lake Orion girls varsity basketball team defeated Oxford, 46-41, on Thursday.
It was the Dragons’ second consecutive win, and put more distance between fourth-place Lake Orion and fifth-place Oxford in the OAA Red division.
The game was close, and featured several ties and lead changes during the first half before Lake Orion ultimately earned a lead that was too much for the Wildcats to overcome.
Lake Orion scored the game’s first two points, but Oxford senior Allison Hufstedler quickly scored as she was fouled. Her free throw gave the Wildcats an early 3-2 lead. Not long after a Dragon timeout, junior Jazamine Randolph scored to regain Lake Orion a 6-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Foul trouble for Oxford put the Dragons in the bonus with over three minutes to play in the first half, meaning every Wildcat foul would give Lake Orion two free throws. The Dragons shot six free throws in the second quarter, and three pointers from Dragon seniors Charlotte Peplowski and Izzy Wotlinski helped Lake Orion earn a 22-18 lead at half time.

Lake Orion Head Coach Bob Brydges said Peplowski makes the Dragons an entirely different team when she plays to her abilities.
“She’s great on defense,” Brydges said. “(She has) long arms, quick feet (and) makes a big impact.”
Much of Peplowski’s impact includes “little things” that do not show up in score books, but make a big difference, Brydges said. An example Brydges gave was Peplowski stealing the ball just after turning it over.
Lake Orion extended their lead to seven in the third quarter, but a layup through contact for Wildcat sophomore Jaylen Jacobsen kicked off a 7-0 run to tie the game at 32 – leading to a Lake Orion timeout.
After the timeout, Lake Orion turned the ball over when an inbound pass went into the Oxford crowd. Wildcat sophomore Mia Champagne took advantage of the turnover, and scored two of her eight third-quarter points to give Oxford a two-point lead.
Not long after, Lake Orion collected an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw and got the ball to Peplowski, who tied the game as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.
“We had a bad third quarter last night, we had another bad third quarter tonight,” Brydges said. “And whether that’s just something I have to adjust to, I’ll go back and look at the film and see what’s going on. But other than that, we readied the ship and started to get it back down to where it should have been.”
Neither team scored during the first few minutes of the final quarter.
Wotlinski was the first to do so with two free throws after the Dragon’s defense regained possession of the ball. Wotlinski made 11 free throws in the game, nine in the fourth quarter alone.
Wotlinski’s free throws began a 9-1 Lake Orion run. By the time the run was over, it was too late for the Wildcats.
Wotlinski’s 25 points were the most scored by any Dragon, followed by 13 from Peplowski. Randolph ended the game with two points, freshman Ulara Hill scored one and sophomore Kara Veeder’s three points came in the second quarter.
Senior Amelia Guccione also scored two points in the fourth quarter, and impacts games in similar ways as Peplowski, said Brydges.
“She has fought and fought and fought,” he said. “She’s the littlest kid on the court, and she’s getting the biggest rebounds.”
Lake Orion is now fourth in the OAA Red with a 3-3 conference record, followed by Oxford at 1-5. The Dragons are 11-7 overall, while Oxford is 6-11 after defeating Ferndale on Friday.
The Dragons will close out their season at home against Stoney Creek at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25.