HOWELL — Don Palmer had worried before Friday’s Class A district championship game with South Lyon East about a letdown from his Hartland team.
“I think you’re always nervous, and, yeah, they start out 6-0 and you don’t know if you’ll come out of it, or if you’ll be in a funk, but obviously, it went all right.”
One could say that. The Eagles scored the next 19 points as part of a 44-3 run that put the game, and the district title, in Hartland’s hands for the second year in a row, third in the last four years and the seventh in Palmer’s nine years at Hartland.
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And, in the meantime, a team that already is getting major contributions from its underclassmen unveiled what Palmer called “his secret weapon.”
The weapon, in this case, was freshman guard Kamryn Gerecke, who added some juice to Hartland’s defense and put up nine points.
“We were going to play her tonight,” Palmer said. “That was the plan, but we played her a lot tonight because Abby (Ratkowiak) was sick. She tried to go, but she couldn’t go, so it was Kamryn’s opportunity and she made the most of it.”
Another underclassman, Whitney Sollom, had a dominant night, recording another triple double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks.
“She’s getting more touches and she’s playing a little bit better,” Palmer said. “I keep reminding people she’s 16 years old. I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet if she stays healthy.”
For Sollom, Friday’s win marked the halfway point to a goal. Asked if maybe winning a title didn’t have the same thrill as last year, she quickly demurred.
“No, no, no,” she said. “I just want it to keep on coming. All four years, I want the district title. It’s really run and a really cool experience.”
Palmer pulled his starters after the third quarter and all 15 players got to participate. One team goal was to feed the ball to Franceska Fanelli, the team’s exchange student who hasn’t made a scoresheet this season. She had a couple of shots, but none fell as the starters cheered everyone on.
“They deserve it,” said Graysen Cockerham, a four year starter who finished with 11 points. “They work hard every single day in practice, and they deserve it just as much. They play a role that just as important as ours, and I’m really happy they were able to play in a district final and participate and help our team win.”
Hartland (18-5) will take on Dexter in a Class A regional semifinal at Walled Lake Western at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
