Wait, what? Undefeated North Farmington girls basketball is going through a lull?

The North Farmington girls basketball team is enduring a two-game lull. 

If you can even call it that. 

The Raiders, who are somehow unranked, are 19-0, two wins from winning the Oakland Activities Association-White outright and three wins from completing a perfect regular season. 

But their last two wins have had coach Jeff Simpson on edge. 

On Feb. 7, it took two overtimes to get past Royal Oak, 42-39, which is saying something because North Farmington downed the Ravens by 24 in early January. 

And then, on Friday, it took everything the Raiders had to sneak past 5-12 Birmingham Seaholm, 32-17. 

And don't let that 15-point victory fool you. They needed a timeout with 5:56 left and a stern talking to from Simpson to finally run away from the Maples. 

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An undefeated season is in progress. A likely division title is on deck. And one of the most anticipated playoff matchups between North Farmington and fifth-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy is a few weeks away. 

But are you having fun, Jeff? 

"Yeah, it's a little stressful when we don't shoot the ball well," Simpson said. "We're in a little bit of a slump right now, but I guess better now than at the end. We've just got to shoot our way out of it, I think. 

"We're in a little lull. It's a long season. It's a grind. ...  I think they're feeling it a little. I'm trying to keep them staying loose, but I think they're feeling a little bit of pressure (about going undefeated). I really think that they are. But I'm trying to keep them loose and keep them playing the game they love. You've just got to keep fighting through it."

The reality is no one expected the Raiders to be in this position. 

Sure, they were expected to have a great season, especially with how deep their roster was going to be. They brought back one of the best backcourts in the OAA in seniors Sela Lefler and Penelope Creary. Plus they surrounded those two with juniors Hannah Hart, Asiyah Jihad and Anaya Billups and seniors Sydney Williams, Eliza Muller and Kelly Simpson. 

But they went 12-9 a year ago and, clearly, they were missing something. 

As it turns out, that something was almost 6-foot center Halle Rogers. 

She tore her left ACL during the OAA-White opener against Rochester on Dec. 21 last winter.

Now that she's back battling in the paint, opponents don't have an answer for her. And, no, not just from an offensive standpoint. Rogers is a better defender and rebounder than anything else. 

She's incredibly slow on defense. And not in a bad way. She has a knack for baiting opponents to make foolish passes into the post because of how "slow" she is to react to a post move. But once that ball goes up in the air, Rogers swiftly nabs it and away the Raiders' transition offense goes. 

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Name one center in Michigan who could probably lead her team in steals. Because if it wasn't for Lefler and Creary right now, Rogers would be No. 1 in that statistic. 

"It feels amazing to be back," the senior said. "It was definitely emotional last year watching the games and not playing. I feel like I'm a great addition to the team. We work together well on the court, and I'm glad to be back, definitely." 

Rogers sat out 8-9 months while rehabilitating her knee injury. She said physical therapy wasn't fun. And after coming back, she admits she might be a step slower because she fears reinjuring herself. 

But even being a step slower than last year has made the Raiders unbeatable. Quite literally. 

Her knack for grabbing rebounds and getting fouled on put-back attempts has been invaluable to Simpson. 

"She's playing much better down low," he said. "She's getting tougher, stronger. Coach (Trent) Kelly has been working with her down low on finishing. She's still struggling at times to finish, but free throws are much better now. She's working on things, and she's getting much better. Defensively tonight, she was phenomenal. That's what I told her. Don't worry about the offense, you've just got to keep playing defense. She gets a little scared sometimes. She kind of banged her other knee against Royal Oak. She got a little scared right away. But she's slowly getting past that, but I think it's just a natural human reaction."

Rogers' effort is what kept North Farmington alive against Seaholm. 

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She totaled four of her team's 11 points in the third, and then she drew another trip to the foul line in the fourth. While the Raiders struggled on offense, Rogers was keeping them in it on the defensive end. 

"It's so nice having her," said Lefler, a team captain. "Last year, it was definitely sad playing without her. She sets the best screen. She has a really high IQ. She gets a lot of steals. She gets a lot of rebounds. She plays super aggressively. I love when she's in the game, and I love playing with her." 

That's easy to say for Lefler, who's enjoying a dream senior season right now. 

Her team is undefeated. 

She just signed with Division III Kean University in New Jersey. 

And she reached the 1,000-point career mark for her career while scoring 17 points during that double overtime win over Royal Oak earlier in the week. 

"It's been really amazing," Lefler added. "It's been an amazing season. It couldn't have gone any better, honestly. It is crazy. It's really nice. I knew we were going to have a good senior year, but I didn't know we were going to go undefeated. Honestly, it's been really nice, and I'm hoping to go 22-0. It's been really, really amazing." 

Lefler said Kean recruited her because the team needs a point guard who can be gritty as well as a leader. 

She's definitely been that for Simpson, who has been coaching Lefler and the rest of the seniors since they were in the seventh grade. 

"She's always been a basketball junkie," Simpson said. "She loves the game. She's probably too hard on herself. She's her own worst enemy as far as being too hard on herself. So she wants to play in college, and she has that opportunity. She's found a place that really likes her and wants her out at Kean University in New Jersey. She's going to go there with a big freshmen class, and she's going to go there and looks forward to that."

Lefler gets a chance to add to her legacy as the regular season winds down. 

If the Raiders beat Rochester Adams in their next game, all they have to do is get past Oxford on senior night to win the outright division championship. They're just one game ahead of the Wildcats in the league standings. 

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Should they lose to Oxford, however, they can still clinch a share of the title with a win at Harper Woods to end the regular season. 

Considering North Farmington beat Adams by 26 points, Oxford by 19 and Harper Woods by 31 earlier this winter, it's safe to say it should be favored to finish the year 22-0 overall. And, at the very least, that should finally put a smile on Simpson's face. 

Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on Twitter @folsombrandonj.