Howell girls up for Arbor Prep challenge — with broadcast link

//

HOWELL — Howell’s girls basketball team has been pointing toward tonight’s matchup for a while now.

“We’ve definitely been building up to this,” senior Paige Johnson said. “Not just this year, but the last three years. We’ve been preparint for it.”

The Highlanders will get an idea of where they stand in the firmament of girls basketball in the state of Michigan tonight at Arbor Prep, which won the Class C title two years ago and lost in the Class B final last year.

The game starts at around 7 p.m. and will be broadcast by The Livingston Post.

Click here for the broadcast link!

“They’re one of the better teams in the state, for sure,” Howell coach Tim Olszewski said. “We’re looking at it as an opportunity to give ourselves a gauge for where we’re at and what we need to get better at. It truly is going to be a good test for us, because they’ve been good for a while and they’re right back at it again this year.”

The Gators (3-0) feature three sisters in their starting lineup; senior Lasha, junior Mahri and sophomore Jala.

“They’re their best players,” Olszewski said. “They know how to play the game, they’re long, they’re good athletic basketball players and they shoot extremely well. (Arbor Prep) likes to press and get after you and you have to minimize your mistakes.”

Some pundits have Howell ranked among the top teams in Class A this season, and Olszewski thinks the Highlanders might have turned a corner in Tuesday’s 75-35 rout of Ann Arbor Pioneer.

“The 75 points scored might be the most in at least the last two years, and that was with a running clock in the second half,” Olszewski said. “I think in that game we took a step in the direction of where we want to be. I think we realized that we were playing a little hesitant, a little safe, and that’s not us. We like to be aggressive, we like to be the aggressor, and the girls responded.”

Arbor Prep’s basketball floor, at 84 feet, is 10 feet shorter than Howell’s floor, Olszewski said, which requires minor tweaks in spacing on offense and defense.

But the Highlanders are ready for the challenge and a chance to make a name for themselves against the Gators.

“Coach O tells us all the time our biggest competition will be ourselves,” Johnson said. “So, if we go out and play the way we’re supposed to play and stay aggressive, we should pull out a win.”

Olszewski, whose default outlook is optimism, is looking forward to tonight’s game.

“It’s going to be a great game,” he said.

DON’T MISS A BEAT

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

We don’t spam!

Sharing is caring!