FENTON — The Hartland girls basketball team, en route to dispatching Lakeland on Tuesday night got a glimpse of the future during a 53-29 victory that wasn’t that close.
Junior Olivia Linden, whose role has increased as the season has gone on, showed her improvement on defense and was the Eagles’ leading scorer, putting up 11 points on a night when 10 of the 15 Hartland players who saw action scored.
“She’s becoming a good defender,” Hartland coach Don Palmer said. “We know she can score, and she proved that tonight.”
Linden also ran the team from the point for most of the second half, when the Eagles led by as many as 35 points and Palmer cleared his bench halfway through the fourth quarter.
Click here for the archived broadcast!
She also teamed with Emmy Sargeant to hold Lakeland leading scorer Molly Libby to just three points in the first three quarters.
“When we scout their best players, our goal is to really face-guard them and take them out of the passing game,” Linden said. “We want to take the ball away form them and see how it goes from there.”
On Tuesday, it went pretty well.
Hartland (22-1) put up eight 3-pointers in the first half, five in the first quarter, when the Eagles staked themselves to a 20-5 lead and never looked back.
Libby, pursued relentlessly by Sargeant and Linden, had trouble getting open to take shots, and the rest of the Lakeland team struggled as well.
Hartland led 49-14 at the end of three quarters before Palmer pulled his starters, while the Lakeland starters stayed in.
No longer under defensive pressure, Libby showed why she was Lakeland’s best player this season, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter, nearly matching her team’s output in the first three quarters.
Hartland will take on Clarkston in Thursday’s regional championship game. The Wolves beat Lake Orion 61-47 in the other semifinal.
“We’re going to have to get back (on defense), because they release a lot, ” Palmer said. “We also have to see if we can hurt them inside a little bit. It’s stuff we don’t do well, but we’ve got a day to work on it. You can’t change much at this point of the season. We’ve got Emmy and Amanda (Roach) and Gracey (Metz) and Leah (Lappin). These kids guard perimeter kids, and they’re going to have to do a greater job (on defense).”
On the other hand, Clarkston will have to defend against a Hartland offense that has a different leading scorer every night and a coupld of scoring threats to consider besides.
“We make sure we share the ball and make sure everyone gets involved,” Linden said. “That’s when we really do well. If someone’s on fire (shooting), we make sure they get the ball.”
