HARTLAND — It looked going in that Hartland and Waterford Mott were ready to engage in a close girls basketball matchup on Friday night.
In the end, it was Hartland winning going away. The Eagles never trailed and held the Corsairs in single digits until the first minute of the fourth quarter.
In the end, Hartland prevailed 47-18.
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Hartland coach Don Palmer, as is his wont, played down the significance of the win as much as he could.
“I thought defensively we played well, but we didn’t shoot it real well,” he said. “When you shoot as many 3s as we do, you’re going to have those kind of nights.”
For Waterford Mott, it was a much worse evening.
The Corsairs lost their point guard, Emily Huff, to what Palmer called “a family situation,” forcing them to use their best player, Myra Williams, as a point guard.
“It hurt them,” Palmer said. “I’m not saying it would have made a difference (in the game), but when you lose your point guard…. if we lost (Michelle) Moraitis, we’re in trouble.”
The Eagles got out toe a 14-4 lead thanks to senior Lexey Tobel and freshman Whitney Sollom, who each had seven points scoring inside and outside.
Meanwhile, Hartland all but eliminated Mott’s inside game, and the Eagles rolled to their fourth win to start the season. Tobel finished with a game-high 14 points, while Sollom finished with 12.
There wasn’t much time to celebrate. The players left the court immediately for a classroom to discuss Detroit King, whom Hartland was set to play at 11:20 a.m. Saturday at a showcase in Detroit. The Eagles finish 2016 with the KLAA West opener at Pinckney on Tuesday.
“(It’s) going to be a challenge,” Palmer said. “(King) is 10-deep and they’re good athletes. But it’s something we need to see. Pinckney will be different. That will be half-court, slam-it-inside. We’re going to be playing fast-paced basketball (against King) and we’ll have to D it up on the inside. We’re not going to turn over their guards like we did tonight.”
A few minutes later, Palmer was leaving the gym, preparing for a game mere hours away.
