LAPEER — The odds were against Olivia Linden late in regulation on Tuesday night.
She took a pass from Emmy Sargeant as the clock was running out, then launched a 3-point attempt.
“I didn’t feel that good, because her stats with 3s aren’t great,” Hartland coach Don Palmer said.
But Linden wasn’t thinking about her stats.
“When I got the ball, I knew I only had a few seconds to get that shot off,” she said. “I was wide open and I took my shot and I had enough confidence that it would go in.”
The shot banked into the hoop off the backboard, tying the game at 46 and sending it to overtime, where Hartland took the lead for the first time all night and went on to beat Midland Dow, 56-51, in a Division 1 quarterfinal at Lapeer High School.
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The Eagles (24-1) will take on Wayne Memorial (23-2) in an all-KLAA semifinal on Friday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
It’s the first trip to semifinals for Hartland. Howell has been there twice, once with the boys three seasons ago, and the girls in 1996, when the Highlanders lost in the championship game..
“I’m so incredibly happy,” said senior Leah Lappin, who was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line in overtime and finished with 13 points. “This was the goal and I can’t wait to get to the next game and hopefully win that one.”
It’s the first trip to the final four for Palmer, in his 48th season of coaching girls basketball.
“For me, personally, I’m kind of stunned,” he said. “It didn’t look good at halftime.”
No, it did not.
Dow, led by Alexa Kolnytis and Abby Rey, got nine points apiece from them in the first half and took a 25-13 lead.
“We were just rushing everything and maybe the nerves got to us and we weren’t attacking the rim like we were capable of,” senior Gracey Metz said. “At halftime, Palmer said our shots were fine. Some were bad, but our shots are going to fall if we keep shooting and have that confidence.”
Palmer also switched defenses, going with a 1-3-1 that blunted both Kolnytis and Rey from driving the lane. The Eagles started hitting from the outside, which they did not do in the first half, and they slowly crept back into the game.
“We made the change and suddenly (the Dow lead) was 12, and now it’s six,” Palmer said. “Then you’re in the game. You can feel it. You might not win the game, but you’re not completely demoralized.”
The Eagles outscored the Chargers (23-2) 33-21 in the second half, getting enough scoring from Lauren Sollom down the stretch in regulation (five of her 10 points, all after halftime, came in the fourth quarter) to open things up on the outside.
It was a night that saw senior standout Amanda Roach struggle on the floor, going scoreless, and spending much of the game on the bench in foul trouble until she fouled out in the fourth quarter.
In came Linden, and the rest was written afterward on the joyful faces of the Eagles, Roach included.
“We lost Amanda early, and we lost Emmy (who also fouled out in the final seconds of overtime),” Palmer said. “I told the kids ‘Amanda has carried us all year, so it was our turn to carry her.'”
And they did. All the way to East Lansing.
It’s far too early to talk about a state championship, but good things have to happen on the way there.
Like that 1-3-1 defense.
“In practice, we weren’t the best at it,” Sollom said. “But (Palmer) trusted us, and we trusted him, so we went to it and it worked.”
As did a bank shot on a 3-point try to give the Eagles a chance to win a game in overtime that they never led in regulation.
“Liv Linden made the shot to help us get to the Breslin,” said Palmer, a history buff who took time to try and rewrite history on Tuesday night. “That’s what we’re going to say.”
Metz finished with 15 points, Lappin 13 while Sargeant and Sollom had 10 apiece for Hartland. Kolnytis had a game-high 19 and Rey 18 for Dow.
Next up: Two more days of practice — drudgery in November, a reward in March.
“Yeahhhhhh,” said Metz, with the enthusiasm of a game-show contestant. “I’m excited to be practicing this late in the season.”
And she should be, with the ultimate goal so near.
