Mott spoils South Lyon East’s hopes for LVC championship
It probably didn’t take long for Steve Emert and the Walled Lake Western girls basketball team to write out a thank-you card to Michelle Sklar and Waterford Mott on Tuesday night.
The Corsairs opened the door for the Warriors to claim the Lakes Valley Conference championship outright by going on the road and defeating South Lyon East, 54- 48, moving the Cougars a loss back of Western in the standings.
“It was a fun game to play in. Our focus is to try and prepare for districts and (South Lyon East) has five kids on the floor that can all play,” Sklar said of the win.
Western now sits atop the LVC at 12-2 with two games remaining against the bottom two teams in the standings. Mott finishes the conference race at 13-3, while South Lyon East sits at 12-3 with one game remaining.
“Our goals are going to be reset, but we need to finish the season well,” South Lyon East coach Rob Leadley said of the loss. “We just need to retool for districts. We will be facing a good team, so we have some work ahead of us.”
Mott (15-5) never trailed in the contest, as senior Arianna Harden scored the first five points of the game to establish a lead. Clutch shooting was a big part of the night as well, beginning with senior Abby Upleger banking in a 3-pointer just before the end of the first quarter to give Mott a 1610 advantage entering the second quarter.
“( Mott) hit some tough shots,” Leadley said. “We didn’t play that good of defense, but Mott was making some shots early on in the game.”
As the Cougars ( 12-7) cut the lead down to three points in the second, they lost one of their leading scorers in junior Nina Perl, who attempted to take a charge and hit her head on the floor. She was checked for a concussion and didn’t return to the game.
The Corsairs would get a key 3-pointer from Makayla Fuerst late in the half and then Aleea Austin scored just before halftime on an assist from Harden to put Mott ahead 26-19 at the break.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well at all the first time we played (East),” Sklar said of her team, which suffered a 33-29 home loss to the Cougars on Jan. 24. “(Tuesday) we were able to execute better and get some good looks and hit some shots.”
Mott built the lead up to 12 points with 23 seconds left in the third when Fuerst hit a 3-pointer to make it 39-27. East would respond with a 3-point play from senior Rachel Waranauckas just before the buzzer to make it 39-30 entering the fourth.
The Cougars then built off that by hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the opening two minutes to get the lead down to three points.
“We had our opportunities and our girls stuck with it,” Leadley said.
“They were down and they could have let things get away, but the girls stuck with it and got it tied, we just didn’t make enough plays in the end.”
East tied the score at 43- 43 with 2:05 to play when Waranauckas found an open Avery Millspaugh in the paint. The Corsairs didn’t fold though, as Upleger took the next possession and executed a reverse layup to give Mott the lead for good at 45- 43.
“We have been in a lot of close games over the last two years. Every night is pretty much a battle,” Sklar said. “We have talked about other teams going on runs and how we respond to it. Abby is a senior and she took charge, attacked the basket and had a great finish.”
Free throws also played a big role down the stretch. The Corsairs were in the double bonus for most of the fourth quarter and went 11-of-16 at the line in the period.
Lucy Cronin led the way for South Lyon East with 16 points, including nine points in the fourth and 14 for the second half.
“Lucy really picked up ( her game) and played the way she can play in the second half,” Leadley said. “That was good to see.”
Waranauckas added 14 points for the Cougars while Madison Black scored seven.
Upleger led the way for Mott with 19 points, including going 7- of-8 at the line in the fourth. Mikaila Proctor added 10 points and eight rebounds. Fuerst finished with nine points.
South Lyon East will close out its regular season on Friday when it travels to Lakeland.
Mott now looks forward to next week’s districts when it will face either Bloomfield Hills or West Bloomfield on Wednesday in a semifinal game at Bloomfield Hills High School.
“Since we lost to Northern, our focus has been on getting better for districts. If something happened and somehow we got a piece of the league, then great. But, we just wanted to get better and use practice to execute in game situations.”