HOWELL — Early on, a Howell girls basketball team that should hve been walking away from an injury-depleted Novi squad was, instead, trailing 5-4.
So Highlanders coach Tim Olszewski called a timeout.
“We weren’t talking, and weren’t getting back on defense,” senior guard Maeve St. John said. “He got his point across.”
And the Highlanders took the lead and never gave it back, leading by as many as 20 points in a 60-42 win over Novi on Friday night.
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Novi, down to nine players due to injuries, was game but no match for a Howell attack that saw Sophie Daugard score the first six points of the game for the Highlanders en route to a team=high 19.
“If you’re open, we’re going to find you and get you the ball,” St. John said. “Sophie had the hot had. We were trying to get her a lot of shots.”
And when Daugard wasn’t hitting from the outside, Amelia Storm was cleaning up on the inside, finishing with 13 points. St. John had 11 on a quiet offensive night for her, and Molly Duerloo added 10.
Howell (12-4 overall, 11-1 KLAA West) stayed tied for first with Hartland in the West, with a tough slate of games ahead, The Highlanders are at Northville and home against Brighton to end West Division play, then lay KLAA crossovers against the East Division before playing host to what should be a very competitive district in two weeks.
“We’ve got to be ready for that type of challenge,” Olszewski said. “Everyone’s going to fight. Everyone’s going to give you their best game.”
And, given what he saw Friday, Olszewski says his team will have to step up its collective game.
“We did a lot of good things, but there were a lot of things we have to do better,” he said, “We did a much better job being patient offensively. Defensively, we missed rotations and didn’t do the things we were supposed to do. You’ve got to continue to work. There are things we still have to get better at.”
A sweep next week would guarantee the Highlanders at least a tie for the West Division title, although Hartland would get the top seed ;due to the point differential in their two games this season.
“We’ve got to take care of business,” Olszewski said. “We have to get ready for the KLAA tournament and for districts. We’ve got a lot of basketball to play.”
