No. 5 Howell defeats KLAA Gold foe Novi in "ugly" game Anthony Odoardi
HOWELL — Howell girls basketball coach Tim Olszewski needed only one word to describe his team’s win over Novi on Tuesday night.
“Ugly,” said Olszewski, whose team defeated the second-place Wildcats, 58-48, to retain first place in the KLAA Gold Division, but not without first surrendering a big lead and unexpectedly allowing Novi to make a game of it midway through the third quarter.
The Highlanders had jetted out to a 20-8 lead in the first half, and all seemed to be going as planned for the No. 5-ranked team in Division 1 in the pivotal showdown with last season’s KLAA Central runner-up.
But then, as Olszewski described it, “the wheels fell off.”
“We looked slow, uninterested, defensive assignments were missed left and right,” he said. “We lacked energy on our rebounding, too. It just looked like a team buried in finals, stressed, but we survived.
“We went on the road and it was a very physical game, very physical, but we took the punishment and survived.”
The Wildcats run began coming out of the halftime break, as they took advantage of Howell’s rough shooting from the field and went on a run to knot the game at 25-25.
And it all essentially happened in an instant, as more than four minutes were left in the third when Novi suddenly put itself back in the contest.
Fortunately for the Highlanders, that caused them to wake up, and especially Leah Weslock.
Weslock was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points and six rebounds, and perhaps none of her points were more crucial than her 3-pointer to end Novi’s streak.
Weslock’s shot from beyond the arc was followed up with another from Kaylee Wendal, who finished with 12 points, and that sparked a run that would eventually put Howell back up 14 in the fourth.
Howell benefitted from excellent late-game free-throw shooting as well, going 8-for-8 from the line in the third and 12-for-14 in the fourth.
Weslock was 8-for-8 from the stripe herself and Alexis Miller, who had 15 points, seven boards and four steals, was 6 of 6.
“Leah hit a big 3, which started to extend it again,” Olszewski said. “And she did a nice job from the line. She actually had four huge rebound opportunities in the fourth, where she went jumping into a crowd with three other girls and came down with them or tipped them to a teammate.
“She did all the dirty work.”
Howell will now get Wednesday off from practice to focus on final exams, and then can “blow off some steam” on Friday in another division tilt with Livonia Stevenson.
Pinckney 53, Ypsilanti Lincoln 23
PINCKNEY — The Pirates have won three of their past four games, and although 4-7 overall, have improved to 3-2 in the SEC White.
Morgan Elliot and Maya Narayan Jr., combined to lead Pinckney in Tuesday’s win with 14 points apiece.
Pinckney returns to action Friday vs. Dexter.
Boys Basketball
Brighton 54, Plymouth 50
BRIGHTON — Keegan Stolz had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to their third win in the past four games.
Nolan Ehman and Matt Buschman each contributed 11 points.
Brighton will next host Northville on Friday.
Charyl Stockwell 83, Genesee Christian 62
Jeremy Odoms had a game-high 27 points for CSPA while Luke Tratechaud added 14 in the victory.
Dominic Balagna had 13 off the bench.
CSPA’s next game is Friday at Ann Arbor Prep Academy.
Alma 56, Fowlerville 31
FOWLERVILLE — The Glads dropped to 5-6 on the season Monday night in their loss to Alma.
Josh DuFore led Fowlerville with seven points while Geoffrey Knaggs and Blake Howard each added six.
Fowlerville travels to Eaton Rapids on Friday.
Novi 65, Howell 53
HOWELL — Howell dropped its game against the Wildcats on Tuesday night.
Trendon Hankerson scored a game-high 23 points for the Wildcats.
Jio Miles chipped in 19 points and Nik Williams had 13.