Howell girls basketball coach Tim Olszewski’s is like most coaches, in that he would never admit to looking past an opponent, even if he was.
But with a team that’s dealing with injury and illness, Olszewski says experience has taught him to take Pinckney seriously when the teams meet tonight.
“I think they’ve got a lot of potential,” Olszewski said. “I coached three of those girls in AAU, and I know what they’re capable of doing if they get on a roll. They’ve got good size, they’ve got some good shooters and if they get things clicking, they could be a dangerous team. You always have to be ready and have your A game every time you play them.”
High praise, considering the Pirates are 5-8, 2-5, and the Highlanders beat them 65-40 on Jan. 13.
But Howell (12-1 overall, 6-1 KLAA West) needs a win to set up a showdown at home on Tuesday with first-place Hartland, and the Highlanders have had to juggle their lineups due to illness and injury.
During Tuesday’s 51-25 win over Grand Blanc, the Highlanders were without Amanda Corsten, who was ill, and Dannah Janke (injury).
“Our bench had to step up and give us quality minutes,” Olszewski said. “We started Kelly Lewis, who had not played a lot this year, and we had Casie LaMay come off the bench and brought up Megan Keough from the freshman team.”
All got extended minutes in the second half after Howell had staked a 25-4 lead at the half.
“We played our bench a lot,” Olszewski said. “It gave us more quality minutes that we might need (tonight).”
The Pirates also gave Olszewski something to think about on Tuesday, when they led Hartland 14-10 after the first quarter.
“We played a solid first quarter, the best we’ve played this season,” Pinckney coach Jarrett Cogswell said in a postgame text. “We’ve been talking about starting fast and getting things going, and we did that.”
Hartland got going after that, shutting Pinckney out in the second quarter and rolling to a 56-37 victory.
It’s the kind of performance that makes coaches wary even as players look at the final and wonder why.
But both teams have played enough basketball to know better, and Olszewski’s goal Wednesday was to give his players rest and prepare for a home stretch in the division that begins with the first of three home games tonight.
“It’s nice they’re home,” he said. “They get to stay in a little more, and you don’t have the travel time. So it’s a good situation for us.”
The game was moved to Thursday to give Howell High School more time to set up for the KLAA wrestling championships on Friday.
