HOWELL — It wasn’t easy, not that they thought it would be, but the Hartland girls basketball team will take on Howell in a Class A district semifinal on Wednesday.
But first, coach Don Palmer said Monday night, the Eagles will rest.
“We’ll take a breath,” he said after Hartland (16-5) ousted Brighton 40-35 in a first round state tournament game on Monday. “We’ll practice for an hour and 20 minutes (Tuesday) and then we’ll go home. We’ll have our scout meeting before the game. These kids need rest. I know they’re young and think they can go forever. But they can’t go forever.”
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The Eagles did get out to a big lead early, leading 18-4 early in the second quarter.
Then Brighton (14-7) got to work, scoring the final 16 points of the first half to take a 20-18 lead and adding a 3 by Rebecca Daavettila to start the second half.
“I felt we contributed to their comeback by taking bad shots,” Palmer said. “Taking quick shots, and we also contributed by missing all those shots and there wasn’t an offensive rebound to be had.”
Senior Graysen Cockerham said it was as much mental as physical.
“I think we started out strong, which is what we wanted to do, and then we started getting into our heads,” she said. “We turned ourselves over more than they were turning us over.”
Brighton coach Paul Ash, mindful of the presences of Hartland’s Twin Towers, 6-4 Whitney Sollom and 6-0 Emily Messner, amped up the pressure at the 3-point line.
“The best way to keep the ball out of the big kids’ hands is don’t let the guards get into position to get the ball to the big kids,” he said. “Once we started to do that, we took the big kids out of the game, and then we started to make a run.”
It was a tough, physical contest, with plenty of bumping and jostling for position, but the Eagles, who trailed 23-18 and looked like their season was slipping away early in the third, regrouped and finished with a 15-6 run to take the lead for good in the third quarter.
Three Hartland players had nine points apiece, while Laura Brown had 12 for Brighton.
The win gave the Eagles what they wanted — a third shot at Howell in Wednesday’s semifinal.
“We wanted to play Howell and we’re excited and looking forward to it, but we’re not done yet,” Cockerham said. “We know we have to come out here and do the same things we did (Monday on) Wednesday, and give it all we have and leave it all on the court.”
Each team won on the other’s home floor during the regular season.
The prospect of a Howell rematch was a mixed proposition for Palmer.
“You’re glad the season’s not over, but you’ve got another war coming and you don’t have much time to get ready and you don’t have much time to get rest,” he said.
As for Brighton, Daavettila and Dana Schmanske graduate, but the Bulldogs have five sophomores who saw extensive time on the varsity this season and a JV squad that finished second to Hartland in the KLAA Gold.
“I think we only had one bad practice this year, where the effort wasn’twhat it needed to be,” Ash said. “These kids are committed to the program, and I htink that’s why Brighton stays where it’s at. I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
