BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston New Sports Writer
Cagers are ready to defend their home as Clarkston hosts MHSAA Girls Basketball District No. 13 playoffs this week.
The Wolves open playoffs against Brandon in the semifinal round on Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
“I have seen them all,” said Christine Rogers, head coach, about all the teams in the district. “As long as we play our game we should have a pretty successful district tournament. We have to take it one game at a time.”
The girls will use their successful winning season to help them prep as they finished the regular season going 11-1 in the OAA Red, sharing the league title with Southfield Arts & Technology and went 16-4 for an overall record.
Clarkston closed the regular season with senior night and posting a 49-26 win over Rochester Adams last Thursday.
“It was a good win, and a good win for our seniors,” Rogers said. “You can tell how well they play together just passing the ball to each other, looking for each other.”
Senior Molly Nicholson opened the game with two points with senior Kayla Luchenbach adding one more basket before the Highlanders scored. The Wolves defense kept their visitors to six points during the first quarter as they scored 19 points with Maddie Beck scoring two more points with eight seconds left in the stanza.

The momentum continued into the second quarter as Clarkston opened with six points with four from Luchenbach on the free throw line and a basket from sophomore Lexi Linton. The Wolves’ defense kept Rochester Adams to four points in the quarter before the half closed 29-10.
Beck aided Clarkston as she scored 11 points in the third quarter and freshman Kaelyn Kaul scored on basket as the third quarter finished, 42-18.
Beck led with a total of 18 points and had five steals. Luchenbach scored 12 points and had three assists and three blocks. Nicholson scored ten points.
The leading scorer for Rochester Adams was senior Noelle Dunbar with ten points.
The Wolves opened last week with a 48-33 win over Bloomfield Hills, Feb. 20. Beck led the team with 17 points with four field goals, ten rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Luchenbach scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds and five blocks. Nicholson had 11 points, ten rebounds and four assists.
“We have a couple days off to get ready for districts,” Rogers said. “We know what we need to work on. We know what we need to fine tune. We have to focus on boxing out especially from the guard position. We have to make sure our man-to-man defense is taking a step forward. But I like what I see, I like where we are at. We are peaking at the right time. We are looking forward to heading into this week where it’s do or die.”
The district finals are held on Friday at 7 p.m. The district winner moves on to Regional No. 4 at West Bloomfield, March 6 at 7 p.m.

  Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball, Girls Basketball