Clarkston basketball triumphs over Dragons

By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball’s defense led the way as they defeated crosstown rivals Lake Orion at home last Friday, 60-48.
“Defense really set the tone in this one,” said Aaron Goodnough, head coach for the Wolves.
“Kudos to those guys. They played really well defensively,” said Bob Brydges, head coach for Lake Orion. “They played really good man gap defense and took away a lot of our driving opportunities. We didn’t take care of the ball tonight. We had almost 20 turnovers. You can’t turn the ball over against good teams. They are going to run it out, they are going to score on you. They are going to make life miserable.”
The game opened with Lake Orion grabbing possession at tip off, but it would end quickly with a steal from junior Ellery Hernandez.
Hernandez scored seconds later on a 3-point, starting a 13-point run for the Wolves with five points from junior Elia Morgner, three points from freshman Brooklyn Covert, and two points from sophomore Elli Robak.
Lake Orion senior Ryann Pawlaczyk scored two points from the free throw line, putting the Dragons on the board with 2:52 remaining in the first quarter.
Clarkston senior Emily Valencia scored a basket before junior Dragon Izzy Wotlinski scored three points off a basket and a free throw shot.
The Wolves ended the quarter with a 22-6 lead after Covert scored on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“That’s the second bad first quarter in a row,” said Brydges. “We had a bad first quarter on Tuesday against West Bloomfield. We had a bad first quarter here tonight.”
“When you get a first quarter like that our larger issue was the rest of the game and keeping them in the zone,” Goodnough shared.
Lake Orion opened the second quarter with a combination of six points from with four points from Wotlinski and two on the line from Pawlaczyk.
The Wolves continued their momentum which included back to back 3-point shots from Covert and Robak to help close the half 39-20.
“We still struggled on offense,” said Goodnough. “It doesn’t look like we did, but we did. There’s still things we’re working on it. We’re very young, and we get those big doe eyes going in times. We pass the ball then ‘good, it’s out of my hands. I’m good now.’ No, now you have to continue to move on the court. It’s coming slowly.”
Covert led with 17 points with two 3-pointers. Robak had 16 points with two 3-pointers and Morgner had 14 points with one 3-pointer.
Goodnough added it was a good night to have more girls from the bench play during the game.
“We got to play some girls we don’t get to play a whole lot, which is always huge because they come to practice and they commit,” he said. “We’re going to get some other opportunities for them down the road. I know it.”
The Wolves lost to Stoney Creek last Wednesday, 43-38. Robak led with 15 points. Senior Emily Valencia had nine points and Morgner had six points.
“It was a rough loss for us,” Goodnough said. “We really thought that was ours to have. We were up a lot on them and just let them back into it.
Clarkston heads to West Bloomfield on Thursday and Rochester next Tuesday. They are back home against Oxford next Friday, Feb. 2. JV plays at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.