By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball came back from a break in games last Friday for a victory over Southfield Arts & Technology during Chad Tough Night, 68-50.
“It was good,” said Aaron Goodnough, head coach. “We got the game we thought we would.”
The Wolves jumped off right to the lead as senior Keira Tolmie opened the game with a 3-point shot and followed it with two more points to put the girls up 5-0.
Clarkston continued to add on to their lead, finishing the first quarter leading 21-15 after senior Ava Hernandez scored two points with 38 seconds to go.
The Warriors opened the second quarter with four points and would only score three more in the rest of the quarter as the Wolves scored 18 to go into halftime with a 39-22 lead.
Goodnough added defense was good in the first half.

Tolmie led with 21 points. Freshman Elli Robak scored ten points. Juniors Claire Walker and Emily Valencia both scored nine points.
Goodnough shared the team still has things to work on especially with districts starting Feb. 26.
“Our passing game is just loose,” he said. “We had 30 turnovers and a lot of it was when we put our reserves in at the end. They need that time – it’s valuable time. Our pass and catch game it’s just not great. We just need to work on it. We were able to transition. We didn’t run a whole lot of offense because we were transitioning so much it was coming to us.”
Goodnough added it was great to give the reserves game time.
“I love that,” he said. “Our foreign exchange student, we’ve been so up and down this year she hasn’t had the opportunity to get in that often. I was glad to get her in. I was really happy with our second four. I want to get them in because you need to start thinking ahead. Marley (Mazur) went out. She officially has a broken nose. She is going to be key next year. Claire and Kate (Meyer) will be key pieces for us. It’s good to have them in there to get those minutes now.”
He added he is hoping to have them play more time in playoffs as well because they are thinking ahead to the 2023-2024 winter season.
“Essentially we just start next year and go. We are very young.” Goodnough said. “We are essentially losing two seniors because our other two seniors are out with ACLs. We have a lot of girls coming back. Every practice we do now is building towards next year. “
The Wolves (11-9, 4-1 OAA Red) opened this week against Stoney Creek on Tuesday in a non-league game..
“They are a good high pressure team,” Goodnough said. “We had 30 turnovers tonight. We can’t do that against Stoney. We will definitely lose. They are rounding into shape, and they are getting ready for districts, too. They play a very physical brand of defense which I don’t mind. We just have to be ready for them.”
Clarkston finishes the regular season against OAA Red foe Troy on Thursday.
“They are pretty young, too,” Goodnough said. “It will allow us to work on some things going into districts. It’s senior night so focus is on something different that night as well.”
Clarkston hosts MHSAA Division 1 Girls Basketball District 6. They play Waterford Mott in the semifinals on Wednesday, March 1 at 5:30 p.m.

  Basketball, Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball, Girls Basketball