By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball hosted their home opener last Friday with a 51-48 win over Howell.
“Overall I am thrilled,” said Aaron Goodnough, head coach. “Our defense is really getting to be where we want it to be. We have gone against tough teams who forced us to play like that. Defense travels and when we come home we have that support to pick it up to be natural.”
The Wolves opened the night with the lead with a two-point basket from sophomore Elli Robak and a 3-pointer from freshman Brooklyn Covert.
Clarkston continued to hold onto the lead and in the last minute scored six points from a basket and one point from the free throw line from senior Emily Valencia, and a 3-pointer from Robak with two seconds left, putting them up 15-8.
“A little sped up at times, and we did it to ourselves,” said Goodnough. “We want to play physical and we continue to play physical, but not really getting out of foul trouble. With the new rules and five fouls, they can shoot on you all day long. We knew they had two to three girls on that team who we could not put to the foul line because Gabby (Piepho) doesn’t miss.”
He shared the team did not have a great practice the day before.
“But the first home game I thought we would be okay in terms of being locked in and we were. Howell is a good team. They are going to do well. I told the coach before the game ‘you are us and we are you.’ They are our mirror image, they really are. They want to transition. They want to play hard defense. They will be a very good team this year as well. We are scrappy. They are scrappy. It’s good for us going forward too because when you get a team that allows us to run our offensive.”
The Wolves continued to hold onto the lead throughout the rest of the game until the night finished with a 3-pointer from Howell’s Alison Farr at the buzzer.
Robak led with 15 points. Valencia scored ten points and Covert had nine points. Junior Ellery Hernandez had eight points for the night.
Clarkston opened the week with a 44-36 win over Novi, Dec. 12. Robak led with 14 points. Covert scored nine points and Elia Morgner had seven points.
They won a close game against Haslett in the Swartz Creek Showcase, 45-43, Dec. 9.
“Again almost mirror image,” Goodnough said. “They have a couple taller girls but very athletic, want to shoot 3s. They have a guard who wants to continue driving, driving, driving. Our whole thing was don’t let them have the middle and make them play from the outside – that’s what we did and they did not beat us. We have really done well for scheming for the teams, and they play exactly the way we are scheming.”
Claire Walker led with 17 points. Covert had 11 points and Marley Mazur had nine points.
The Wolves (4-1) opened this week at Lake Fenton on Tuesday. They host L’Anse Creuse North on Thursday. JV plays at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.
“We are in a good spot,” said Goodnough. “I am hoping next week we can get some of our underclass girls in to play a little bit. We are going to go out and just play hard. We can’t take anyone for granted.”
Clarkston wraps 2023 heading to Romulus to play Detroit Country Day on Thursday, December 28, 4 p.m.
“They are very good,” said Goodnough.
“It’s going to be a great game. There are some girls I know from travel who play on the team. It should be fun.”

  Clarkston High School, Girls Basketball