After taking the day off school in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Lady Wolves hit the court.
They had a dream, too. They were going to hold on to their undefeated title going into their game against Troy.
It was a hard battle with turnovers, foul trouble and issues here and there but as Clarkston does – they made it through with a 52-39 win over the Lady Colts.
“If you come out like a night like tonight not ready to play – you are going to get beat up,” said Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball Head Coach Tim Wasilk after the game. “Our kids know how to win because they have been in this position before. When it comes to crunch time the girls come together to find a way past it. Anytime you can win through ugly games it is a good day.””
Troy opened the game with a three pointer and held onto the lead as Christina Jokisch added four points off a basket and two free throws and Megan Hastings scored a basket. With one point away from tying with Troy at 6-7, the Lady Wolves reacted.
Tori Trimmer intercepted a pass and passed the ball to Breanca Cantrell, who scored and put the girls into the lead.
Clarkston held onto the lead until Troy tied the score 12-12, ending the first quarter.
Hastings scored at the beginning of the next quarter and a 3-pointer from Cantrell boosted the girls to a 17-12 lead.
They continued to climb up the board quickly as the Lady Colts tried to make their shots past Clarkston to score. With five seconds left in the half Erin Davenport passed the ball to Cantrell. She took her shot and finished the first half at the buzzer, 27-21.
“A big thing for us is defensive pressure,” said Wasilk. “Don’t give them time to think. Credit to Troy. They did some things that gave us some fits and we got rebounds and deflections The second half we cleaned up a little bit.”
Cantrell led the team with 12 points, scoring two 3-point shots. Davenport had ten points, Hastings, six, and Jokisch, eight.
The Lady Wolves also beat West Bloomfield, 65-31, and Stoney Creek, 53-48, last week.
Delaney Kenny scored 21 points for Clarkston, Jokisch had 12 points and Erika added eight to the board against West Bloomfield on Jan. 10.
Hastings led in the Lady Wolves’ win over Stoney Creek on Friday with 14 points, scoring three 3-pointers.
“She played a solid floor game,” Wasilk added.
Erika had ten points, Cantrell and Trimmer contributed eight points each, while Jokisch scored seven points and Manilla had six.
“It was a competitive game,” Wasilk said, explaining the Lady Wolves would be ten points ahead and Stoney Creek would cut down their lead by a couple of baskets.
The team was also without Kenny during the game for the first time in three years since she joined the team in her freshman year.
“We adjusted and played extremely well against Stoney Creek,” said Wasilk. “Cantrell stepped up and had a great game. Erika had a great game. They had a good offensive player Manilla defended extremely well. It was a good team win.”
Cantrell finished the night with two game clenching free throws in the last minute to boost the girls higher on the scoreboard.
The Lady Wolves host North Farmington on Thursday and look to continue their current 11-0 overall record, 6-0 OAA Red league record.
“I am happy with us finding ways to win especially since we don’t have Delaney,” said Wasilk, looking ahead to Thursday. “We have a lot of kids stepping up. We hope to get Delaney back and help.?
JV begins at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.