HARTLAND — Brighton’s girls basketball team won its seventh game in a row on Tuesday, retaining sole possession of first place in the KLAA West with a 45-41 win at Hartland.
The Bulldogs (7-3 overall, 5-0 KLAA West) had to hold off a fourth-quarter rally by the Eagles after taking a 35-25 lead after three quarters, something coach Bob Wellman wasn’t surprised to see.
“This rivalry is always tough in general,” he said. “They came out and executed much better than we did, especially early. They didn’t have their big. Sarah (Rekowski, ankle) was gone, and they didn’t skip a beat. They played well. I’ll give Hartland all the credit in the world for how they played all day today.”
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The Eagles pulled close thanks to its defense, which held Brighton’s Mary Copple to just one point in the fourth quarter, and its offense, which saw Liv Linden hit a pair of 3-pointers and score eight of her team-high 15 points in the period.
But the Bulldogs showed their grit, too, with Sophia DeAngelis, Kena Smith and Payton VanDeven taking over on the boards; VanDeven also went 4-for-5 down the stretch at the free-throw line.
The game served as the midpoint, roughly, of the 2022-23 season for both teams.
“We had a tough week last week,” Wellman said. “We played three really tough teams (Howell, Northville and Sault Ste. Marie, all on the road) and had Hartland today. These girls have picked it up from practice to game situations and they want to be successful They want to have these wins, and they do what they need to do get those wins.”
Brighton hits the midpoint of the 22-game schedule at Plymouth on Friday.
“I like how it’s looking but we’re not satisfied,” said Copple, who had a game-high 17 points, 12 in the first half. “We want to be the best we can be because every team is going to come at us harder the second time. we play them.”
For Hartland (7-5, 2-3), it was the Eagles’ second loss in a row.
“They know how to fight, and that’s what we’re trying to instill in them,” Hartland coach Reyna Luplow said.
The Eagles did exactly that, rallying from eight down in the second quarter to tie the game at halftime, and nearly overcoming a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Hartland, now tied for fifth with Canton, will have a chance to break that tie when the Eagles play at Canton on Friday.
