Prep highlights: Brighton girls beat Hartland, end rare 5-game skid
BRIGHTON — There’s nothing like a victory over Hartland to ensure all is right in the world for Brighton’s girls basketball team.
Things have rarely been bleaker for the Bulldogs entering their rivalry game with the Eagles. After winning nine straight games and finishing the first half of the KLAA West schedule 7-0 in league play, Brighton lost five consecutive games to fall from championship contention.
Perhaps a 49-33 victory over Hartland Friday night will be the turning point for Brighton in a season of hot-and-cold stretches.
The Bulldogs started the season 0-3, won nine in a row, then had a five-game losing streak that was their longest since dropping five in a row from Jan. 18-Feb. 1, 2011.
“It was a lot of team discussion to figure out what we were doing well, what we were not doing well, what we needed to do to get better,” Brighton coach Bob Wellman said.
“We had to bring the kids together and understand what our goals were. We obviously had a goal of winning the league. We knocked ourselves out with four league losses in a row, but we also have other goals ahead of us, including the tournament. We kept our eyes and mindset on what we can do still in the postseason. It starts with playing good basketball here in the regular season.”
Brighton swept the regular-season series with Hartland, though the teams could meet at least two more times in the KLAA crossovers and district tournament at Hartland.
The Bulldogs (10-8, 8-4 KLAA West) hadn’t won consecutive games against the Eagles (10-9, 5-7 KLAA West) since winning five in a row from Jan. 21, 2014 to Feb. 23, 2015. They went 19 meetings without winning two straight games.
“We knew coming in Hartland’s been playing good basketball,” Wellman said. “We had to play better defense, because our defense creates opportunities for the offensive end. We’re still not shooting the ball really well, but defensively we were able to cause some issues on their end and get some buckets on our end.
“The biggest thing was intensity from start to finish. It’s always that rivalry game that brings that out anyway. I think the girls were hungry for a win since we were all struggling. We were struggling from a physical aspect, as well as a mental aspect losing five in a row.”
Brighton senior Mary Copple scored 23 points, adding eight rebounds and three assists. Payton VanDeven had nine points, shooting 7-for-8 from the line. Sophia DeAngelis had 11 rebounds, while Makena Smith had nine for Brighton.
Liv Linden scored 14 points and Ellie Laier 10 for Hartland.
Brighton outscored Hartland 13-4 in the second quarter after the teams ended the first tied 13-13.
Howell 55, Novi 43
Howell took care of its business and got some help from Northville to move closer to first place in the KLAA West.
First-place Salem fell to 10-2 in the division with a 43-30 loss to Northville. Howell improved to 9-3 by beating Novi. The teams will meet in the final game of division play Friday at Howell. First, Howell travels to Northville and Salem visits Novi Tuesday.
Gabby Piepho had 11 points; Kylie Pung nine points; Molly Deurloo eight points and seven rebounds; Sophie Daugard seven points, eight rebounds and six steals; and MJ Mikus seven points for Howell.
Pinckney 46, Ypsilanti 33
Audrey Wardlow had 20 points and eight rebounds; Kailey Lambert had 12 points, five rebounds and five steals; and Bella O’Keefe had seven rebounds for Pinckney (7-10).
Whitmore Lake 40, Charyl Stockwell 26
Jordan Knight scored 10 points and Lucy Fuchs eight for Stockwell.
Boys basketball
Brighton 50, Hartland 41
Ashton Tomassi scored 23 points, shooting 4-for-7 from 3-point range, as Brighton maintained a share of first place in the KLAA West with Canton at 9-2.
Eddie Millington had 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks for the Bulldogs (15-3 overall). Ben Anderson had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Hartland led 12-4 after one quarter before Brighton outscored the Eagles 30-13 in the middle quarters.
Novi 56, Howell 48
Novi, which entered the game 2-8 in the division, upset Howell to knock the Highlanders out of a tie for first place in the KLAA West. Howell fell to 8-3 with three division games remaining.
Logan Leppek had 11 points and Daniel Hampton nine for Howell. Rodney Hackman led Novi with 18 points.
Mason 73, Fowlerville 48
Brendan Ray scored 11 points, Alex Jonas had eight points and six rebounds, and Wyatt Soli had eight points for Fowlerville (3-11).
Pinckney 41, Ypsilanti 34
Caden Carlson scored 12 points, while Brayden Doyle and Johnny Combs had eight each for Pinckney (4-13).
Charyl Stockwell 56, Whitmore Lake 44
Henry Munkres and Adam Surowiec each scored 14 points for Stockwell, while Caleb Moore had nine rebounds and Louis Perri eight for Stockwell. Seth Campbell had six rebounds and six steals for the Sentinels.
Hockey
Howell 7, Midland Dow 1
Cade Katlin had two goals and one assist, Mike Mukavetz scored his first two goals of the season, and Hayden Sturos had a goal and two assists to lead Howell (7-13-2).
Evan Judd and Tanner Sauve each had a goal and one assist.
Hartland 5, Plymouth 0
Hartland senior Jack L’Esperance scored his second straight hat trick and third in the last five games.
Ben Pouliot and Ian Evans scored the Eagles’ other goals.
Boys swimming and diving
Northville 104, Hartland 82
Hartland’s Jack Losert set a school record for six dives with a score of 249.65 points, breaking the mark of 238.6 set by Jonas Zebari in 2014.
The Eagles also set five pool records, including in all three relays.
Hudson Schick, Josh Ray, Tyler Davis and Issac Davis won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:38.96; Ray, the Davises and Andrew Barrett won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.32; and Schick, Ray and the Davises won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:19.40.
Tyler Davis set the pool butterfly record of 53.44, while Issac Davis set the 100 freestyle mark of 48.05.
Schick won the 50 freestyle in 23.12 and Ray captured the breaststroke in 1:01.68.
Pinckney 134, Ypsilanti 38
Two nontraditional events were contested on Pinckney’s senior night, with senior Davis Radde winning the 500 butterfly in 6:24.72 and senior Griffin Stahl winning diving with an 11-dive total of 350.65. The butterfly is 100 yards in most high school meets and six dives are typically used in duals.
Senior Conor Trotter won the 100 freestyle in 53.56.
Gymnastics
Livonia Churchill 141.7, Hartland 136.725
Hartland’s Delaney Gomolka scored 9.35 on beam, 9.1 on bars and 8.8 on floor exercise.
Brooke Zapfe scored 9.0 on floor.
Boys bowling
Mason 22, Fowlerville 8
Brent Wood rolled a 224 for Fowlerville.
Girls bowling
Mason 22.5, Fowlerville 7.5
Emma Wilber rolled a 159 for Fowlerville.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Prep highlights: Brighton girls beat Hartland, end rare 5-game skid
