BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Wolves found themselves behind in the first half in their first three games of the season.
But the Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball team found ways to come back for wins in two of the games.
The Wolves opened the season with a 57-47 win over Walled Lake Western at home on Dec. 3.
“We had a great third quarter sparked by Izzy Hadley,” said John Weyer, head coach. “It was a lot of fun to coach and watch the team find out who we were in the first game of the season.”
Clarkston held the lead by 1-point at the end of the first quarter after a basket scored by senior Taylor Heaton, off a pass from Madison Skorupski.
Western opened the next stanza with a basket and a 3-point shot to take the lead and closed the first half with a 29-20 lead.
Weyer added the difference in the second half was the team started breaking their press.
“We diagrammed, we talked about it and we went out and executed it,” he said. ” Once that was done our half court sets were effective. We played great defensively.”
Heaton led with 14 points and had two 3-pointers; Skorupski scored 13 points; Hadley had 12 points and junior Morgan Hunter had 11 points and one 3-pointer.

The Wolves headed to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep on Thursday and lost 68-55, where Hunter led with 15 points and Hadley had 11 points.
“They were very fast, very talented,” said Weyer. “They got up to a 12-point lead early that we were never able to scratch, claw and get back in.”
One of the highlights from the game included Hunter having a double double in the first half with 11 rebounds and 10 points.
“She was just dominant,” Weyer said. “She was facing two 6-foot-2 girls and Morgan is 5-foot-8. She was just outboarding them and out working them. It was impressive. Both of those girls are in the top 100 in the state. It was fun to see and watch her as a player be that dominating even with a loss.”
He added Arbor Prep also has Mya Petticord, one of the best players in the state. Junior Kaelyn Kaul was able to limit Petticord to only five points in the first half.
” She just locked her up. It was a testament to how hard Kaelyn works,” Weyer said. “Our game plan was working, our shots just weren’t following early on. It would have been a different game if we made some shots in the first half. They came out hot. I don’t think we were ready for how fast and how athletic they were. We hung with them, we just weren’t able to close that gap.”
He added it will help the team as they go against Southfield, at home on Dec. 20, and West Bloomfield.
“If we can learn anything from the second half of that game it’s how fast they played and how we could slow them down a little bit,” he said.
The Wolves defeated Ann Arbor Skyline, 50-33, on Saturday in Arbor Prep’s 7th Annual Girls Basketball Ice Breaker Classic.
Hadley led with 13 points with three 3-pointers. Heaton and Kaul both scored eight points in the team effort game.
“They’re well coached and have developed players. They are still young, but they were beating us by two at the half,” Weyer said. “We managed to come back and put things together. The first play of the second half they were rebounding the ball and we got a 5-second call. It just shows how tight we started. We went to a full court man press. The girls responded by locking down defensively. We were up by five at the end of the third. Then, we went on a 7-0 run to start the fourth.”
He added Skorupski was all over the court and had a lot of steals while junior Olivia Toderan ran the floor.
“It was good to see her take that leadership role,” Weyer said. “She was voted captain this week by her teammates. It’s fun to watch her lead.”
The Wolves opened the week on Tuesday against Notre Dame Prep. They play Waterford Kettering on Saturday in a OAA/KLAA Crossover game at North Farmington, 5:15 p.m.
“They knocked us out of districts last year and the girls really want that win,” Weyer said about Kettering. “We are excited about that match up. We will putting in the work this week to prepare.”

  Basketball, Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball, Girls Basketball