FENTON — The high school basketball tournament always promises drama.
Sometimes it delivers, many times it does not.
Such was the case on Wednesday night, when little-used Hartland junior guard Emma Alexander came big in her first-ever start, providing a lift on defense and a key boost on offense down the stretch as the Eagles ended Brighton’s season 42-32.
Meanwhile, the clock struck midnight early and decisively for Fenton’s Cinderella playoff run. Howell took care of that, winning 47-7 in a game that, quite honestly, wasn’t even that close.
Hartland had lost to Brighton twice during the regular season, and had a hard time down the stretch against the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter until Alexander took over.
She scored 12 of her career- and game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, going 8-for-8 at the free-throw line.
“She had been sick and missed about a week,” Hartland coach Mike McKay said. “She’s still coming back from that illness.”
But if Alexander felt sick, she didn’t show it. She hit a couple of layups to start the period and then was perfect from the line.
“It was a big boost,” McKay said. “You know, we’ve got belief with anybody in that locker room that they’re gonna step up on on their time is time is ready, and she was ready. Credit to her and credit to the team for helping get get all of us ready.”
Alexander didn’t see a lot of playing time during the season, but said it didn’t affect her outlook or her approach.
“I was working harder to get better, and ther coaches noticed,” she said. “So that’s what helped me get some time tonight.”
Her teammates noticed, too.
“She stepped up when we needed it most,” Hartland’s Izzy DePestel said.. “She had it in her. She’s a good hard player. And it just really helped us out today.”
Hartland 42, Brighton 32 — Click here for the archived broadcast!
Howell, meanwhile, scored the first 12 points of the game and led 24-2 after the first quarter and 37-3 at halftime.
“We used it as an opportunity to work on a few things to get to get ready for Friday,” Howell coach Jason Piepho said. “We just we worked on some different defensive stuff and some different tweaks, just trying to try and get ready and get better for Friday.”
Howell 47, Fenton 7 — Click here for the archived broadcast!
The only drawback for the Highlanders was that the shooting touch they had in the first half completely abandoned them in the second.
“I think we focuses too much on our layups and we were thinking too much about it which caused us to miss them,” junior guard Allison Farr said. “You know, if we just play the game, you know, and get out of our heads, the layups will go in like they say.”
Piepho, meanwhile, made sure to compliment a Fenton team that continued to play hard despite being thoroughly dominated.
“They played hard for the full 32 minutes,”} he said. “I mean, you you wouldn’t have known it was a 40-point game in the second half, because they were competing hard and they were playing hard.”
Friday’s game will mark the second year in a row Hartland and Howell will meet in thr district final
