EAST LANSING — It was evident from the beginning that the Hartland girls basketball team was not going to have a championship performance in Saturday’s Division 1 final at the Breslin Center.
Lauren Sollom, normally reliable around the basket, missed her first three shots.
“Not every shot is going to fall,” she said. “Especially in a game like that, the most important game of the season. My teammates told me to keep shooting and to keep my composure.”
The Eagles never did get going, and never led in a 51-42 loss to West Bloomfield, which won its first state championship.
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It was a tough, physical game, one that the Lakers (26-1) won thanks to superiority on the offensive boards at key times.
“They kept getting offensive rebound after offensive rebound,” Hartland coach Don Palmer said. “It wasn’t one-and-done. It was three-0and-four-and-done. It adds up, and it’s devastating.”
Almost equally devastating was Hartland’s shooting woes as a team. The Eagles hit on just 25 percent of their shots (16-for-64) and just four of 24 shots from 3-point territory.
Two of those came from Amanda Roach in the fourth quarter, when she scored 10 of her game-high 21 points and pulled the Eagles by the scruff of their collective necks to within seven points, 46-39, with 3:59 left in the fourth quarter.
The teams then went into defensive lockdown, with neither scoring for three minutes. After a West Bloomfield basket with under a minute to go, Roach hit an NBA-length 3-pointer to get the Eagles to within six, 48-42, with 25 seconds left.
“I personally thought we had a chance,” Roach said. But the Eagles would get no closer.
The run to the title game was the longest in school history for Hartland (25-2), which has gotten to the quarterfinals in five of the last seven years, including 2020, when the season ended due to Covid-19 during regionals.
Roach was the only Hartland player in double figures, while Emmy Sargeant had nine rebounds and six points,
Indya Davis had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Sydney Hendriz had 12 points and 13 boards for the Lakers.
Palmer said the run to East Lansing became a possibility when he moved guard Emmy Sargeant into the starting lineup at midseason.
“We went with five seniors and a little more athleticism and quickness,” Palmer said. “We went from a very good team to a championship-caliber team. They deserve all the credit,”
Sollom also credited players who came before this team for playing key roles.
“It’s amazing, with my team and (sister) Whitney, NIkki (Dompierre) LIllie (Gustafson) and Maddie (Moyer),” she said,. “They got us here and helped us grow into the players and teammates and people we are today.”
It was the first trip to the state finals for Palmer in 45 years of coaching girls basketball, the last 13 at Hartland. Saturday’s loss was only the fourth in the last three seasons.
“It’s a group you w8ll miss because they were a band of sisters,” Palmer said. “They didn’t care if one got 20 (points) and they got zero, as long as they won That is rare in today’s individualistic society.There are other teams that led the way, who got us into quarterfinals, that type of thing. Tom Izzo always asks his kids, ‘What are your footprints going to be in this program?’
“I know it’s a coach’s cliche, but they made their mark. They made their mark.”
