BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Wolves jumped quickly into the short winter season getting in one contact practice and following it up with three wins.
The Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball team opened the season with a 66-49 win over Troy on Feb. 9.
“I thought early on we were sloppy just with our passes,” said John Weyer, head coach. “We just have to wipe it off. We have one more practice and then two more games so we have to work it through during the game. It’s not something we are going to be able to work out during practice.
Troy opened with the first basket of the night but lost the lead after Olivia Toderan hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Kaelyn Kaul. The shot started a 11-point run before Troy’s Kendal Zeiter made her own 3-point shot.
It didn’t slow down the Wolves momentum as they closed the first quarter with a 20-9 lead.
Weyer said it was the players’ natural ability on the fast breaks.
“We were getting all those buckets off the long ball,” he added. “We practiced that a lot when we weren’t able to have contact. It’s one of the things we will probably do well this year is throw that long ball – you guys need to stay six feet apart, okay stay 80 feet apart.”

Madison Skorupski led the team with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
“Maddy was really good tonight,” said Weyer. “With 24 points and 16 rebounds – that’s just dominance.”
Toderan had 18 points. Izzy Hadley had ten points and five steals.
“Olivia couldn’t play half the game because she was in foul trouble,” Weyer said. “I had three starters out the second half because of fouls and we still maintained the lead. It shows some depth of our bench and some resilience, too. It’s a great lesson to learn.”
Clarkston continued their streak, defeating Groves last Friday, 53-40, and Lakeland last Thursday, 41-32.
“We scheduled 18 games, not every team did,” Weyer said. “We are going to play three a week. I am trying to schedule that for all three levels. They worked hard for it and waited a long time.”
He added he expects the team to do well this season as long as they keep working hard.
“This is the year for psychological agility for these kids,” Weyer continued. “They have learned it really well, and it’s something they will have to keep doing. I imagine there will be more COVID things happening during the season and we are prepared for it. We told them lock it down, stay within your pod so you aren’t going to a friend’s house Saturday night, that friend had COVID, you come to practice on Monday, now our team is out for two weeks. We are going to do everything we can to not have that happen to us.”
The Wolves host West Bloomfield this Thursday. Then, they are on the road as they play Powers Catholic on Friday, Notre Dame Prep on Monday, and Royal Oak on Tuesday.

  Clarkston Girls Basketball, Girls Basketball