BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Senior Lexi Linton spent the season being a leader off the court, recovering from an injury suffered over the summer.
So when she started on Thursday night in Clarkston’s last home game of the season, teammates and fans had smiles on their faces. Linton scored off her own rebound to open the Wolves’ 51-43 win over Royal Oak.
“It was such a special moment,” said John Weyer, head coach for Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball. “Hats off to Royal Oak for allowing it. We gave them the bucket, then Lexi was able to get a basket. I was there when she hurt her knee and I told her we would get back there. We didn’t get back there the way she wanted to, but we were able to get her back on the court – that’s special to me and it was special to the entire team. She leads us in so many ways people don’t see.”
Senior Taylor Heaton, who played for the varsity team since her freshman year, finished the night with 29 points and scored on three field goals.
“She has just been a constant leader for our team, on the court, off the court, in practice,” said Weyer. “If anyone watches our practice, she is the hardest working kid out there. It is just a testament to her and what she does. She is just a great kid. I was able to take time out and pull Taylor out to give her the round of applause she really deserved at the end with a few seconds left. I was glad we were able to do it.”
Royal Oak went on a 9-point run during the first quarter to grab the lead and closed the stanza with a 15-6 lead after Heaton and junior Olivia Toderan scored in the last two minutes.
The Wolves opened the second quarter with two more points from Heaton and started to climb in points. With less than three minutes to half time, Heaton scored off a pass from sophomore Madison Skorupski for a 21-20 lead. Heaton scored three more points to close the half, 24-21.
“We made some adjustments we needed to make particularly with our press,” Weyer said. “We were in a zone press to start out with and we were allowing too much. We switched to a man press and were able to stifle them a little more and we put a double on Sarah Soraghan. It really held the game.”
Sophomore Izzy Hadley was the second leader in points with seven in the game.
The Wolves opened the post-season on Monday with the first round of the MHSAA Division 1 Girls Basketball District 5, beating Romeo, 58-32.
“You want the momentum going in,” Weyer said going into the game. “We have 12 wins in our last 13 games and that’s momentum heading into the playoffs. We are going to be ready if we just keep this going. We are playing some really good defense right now and if our offense keeps up to where our defense is we are going to go far in the tournament.”
He added despite records, everyone is at a 0-0 starting point.
“They are just as good as we are as far as records. Ava Buscha is one of their players and one of the best players out there. We have to key in on her and stop her,” said Weyer. “It’s our first stop. One game at a time.”
The district playoffs continue on Wednesday with the semifinals against Lake Orion, 6:30 p.m., and the final on Friday, 6 p.m. All games are at Waterford Kettering.

  Girls Basketball