BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Lady Cagers are gearing up to post wins against Stoney Creek and Rochester Adams after their first loss in the season and league play last week.
The Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball team lost to Southfield Arts & Technology in their OAA Red match up on Thursday, 64-48.
“It’s going to give them the challenge of challenging each other and themselves because they know we could play better than we did,” said Christine Rogers, head coach. “We know as a team when we play together we played good team defense in the second half – that’s how we stop teams. It was a reminder for them they can’t do this on their own.”

The Lady Wolves opened the game against the Warriors with the first four points from the duo of juniors Kayla Luchenbach and Maddie Beck. Luchenbach won possession of the ball from the toss, passing the ball to Beck who scored. Seconds later when Clarkston took possession of the ball back, Beck passed the ball to Luchenbach giving her the opportunity to score.
Southfield gained ground quickly to tie the score off a free throw from Alexis Johnson and 3-point shot from Deja Church and followed it up with another basket from Church to take the lead.
The Lady Wolves took the lead back with 2:20 left in the first quarter with a basket by Beck from senior Kristen Page, 11-10. The girls didn’t score again until the last 20 seconds with two free throws and a basket from junior Molly Nicholson.
The Warriors scored 24 points in the second half capitalizing on five of their 3-point shots, ending the first half 42-23.
“We executed our game plan except for the second quarter,” Rogers said. “We had some turnovers and didn’t play the best defense. We let them get a lead on us which we chipped away during the second half. It’s tough to overcome a deficit of 20 points that early in the game.”
Luchenbach led with 19 points and Beck scored 17 points. Nicholson added ten points during the game.
“We have a lot of talent and a lot of potential,” said Rogers. “But we have to show up every day and get better because we get them again. We want it to be a different game when we see them. We play them down there which is always a challenging environment. It will make us tougher.”
The Lady Wolves opened the week at Stoney Creek. They head to Rochester Adams on Friday. JV starts at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.