HOWELL — For the Howell girls basketball team, Thursday’s 51-24 win over Pinckney means the Highlanders can, at long last, start concentrating on next week’s rematch with Hartland.
But an up-and-down first half against the Pirates gave them plenty to consider, too.
“The word I think of is ‘horrendous,'” coach Tim Olszewski said. “”We had eight turnovers in the quarter, we had girls in foul trouble. We couldn’t do anything right. It was us. We missed so many assignments. We didn’t execute anything we were supposed to. It was horrible.”
And Howell (13-1 overall, 7-1 KLAA West) led 8-7 after the quarter.
The second quarter was a rollercoaster. Howell scored the first six points, then saw Pinckney (5-9, 2-6) go on a 10-1 run to take the lead before scoring the last eight points of the half to take a 22-17 lead.
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“We played a tough, solid defensive game,” Pinckney coach Jarrett Cogswell said. “We played a little bit different scheme and it worked. We were able to put some points on the board and keep the game close. That’s what we wanted.”
Things were different in the second half.
The Pirates’ zone, which had been effective in the first half, was no match for the HIghlanders after the intermission.
“Once we got some good sets and screened the zone like we were supposed to, all of a sudden we got good looks,” Olszewski said.
Paige Johnson, who played a key role on defense for Howell in the second half, said her team’s natural competitiveness took over.
“No one wants to come out here and play like that,” she said. “We came out ready to play and it was a good feeling.”
Lexie Miller was a constant for the Highlanders, hitting six 3-pointers, four in the first half, while finishing with 21 points. Leah Weslock added 16, while Johnson had seven points and seven rebounds.
The game was played a day early to allow crews to get an earlier start Friday on preparing the Howell gym for Saturday’s KLAA wrestling championships.
It also gave the Highlanders a chance to start talking about the rematch a day early.
“Tonight it starts,” Olszewski said, smiling.
Johnson was more expansive.
“We’re so excited to play Hartland againm”: she said. “They’re a great team, and it’s our only loss. We’re excited to get them at our place. The only team we worry about is ourselves, and the only team that can beat us is ourselves. When we don’t do the things we need to do, we lose. So we’ll look at the film and figure out what we need to do better to beat Hartland.”
