Finding on-court positives

BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Wolves win over Birmingham Groves didn’t start how they wanted to but it finished a lot better.
“We came out really flat,” said Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball Head Coach Aaron Goodnough after the 69-25 win. “Considering all we are preaching about is defense we came out laid back and let it come to us. I think we came out and looked ahead a little bit. We can’t made a habit out of it.”
Goodnough changed the line up a little bit and put different players in.
“I think it helped,” he said. “It’s something I don’t want to make a habit of but it was effective. They knew it. They weren’t in the game.”

Izzy Hadley runs around Birmingham Groves’ Cira Racco in the second half of the Wolves’ win last Thursday. Photo by Wendi Reardon Price

The Wolves finished the first half with a 35-11 lead with a pair of field goals from Keira Tolmie and Izzy Hadley, a basket and free throw shot from Hadley and a basket from Emily Valencia.
“Groves always come out and play hard,” Goodnough said. “Every year we play them they play hard. I didn’t know their personnel all that well, but I knew they were going to play hard. I knew they were going to play defense. They tried to run some things on offense we have worked on to defend.”
The lead continued to grow in the third quarter as they outscored Groves 24-12 with big baskets from Hadley and Valencia, each with one field goal.
With 6:18 left in the game, the Wolves put the score 64-23, starting the running clock and more players from the bench went into the game.
“It’s always good to get more girls in the game,” said Goodnough. “Frankly our future is bright. I love getting those girls in so they can get in varsity minutes. They can show us some things we don’t necessarily see in practice with them.”
Maddy Skorupski led with 25 points. Hadley had 15 points and Valencia had ten points.
The girls lost to Ann Arbr Prep, ranked No. 1 in Division 3 on Friday, 51-40. Skorupski led with 27 points and Hadley had seven points.
Varsity opened last week with a 62-22 win over Milford. Skorupski led with 24 points. Hadley had 16 points, ten rebounds, ten assists and six steals.
The Wolves opened this week at Royal Oak on Tuesday. The varsity team hosts L’Anse Creuse North on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

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