Clarkston stymies Grand Blanc for second straight district title

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

HOLLY— Like any good mentor, Clarkston girls basketball coach Tim Wasilk was concerned that his team might have an off night in the postseason and be an upset victim in the early rounds.

After the Friday’s rout of Grand Blanc, those concerns have been culled for the moment.

Fifth-ranked Clarkston held its third straight opponent to under 30 points and captured its second straight Class A district crown Friday with a resounding 48-25 triumph over Grand Blanc at Holly High School.

“Defensively, we played very good all week,” said Wasilk, whose team reached the regional finals last season before falling to Midland. “We held teams to 27, 27 and 25 points this week. That’s pretty good defense. We didn’t play very good offensively in our district opener against Holly, but I think we picked it up in the last two district games.”

Clarkston, which faces Saginaw Arthur Hill at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the regional semifinals at Bay City Central, led only 9-6 after the break. The Wolves opened up the second frame with an 11-0 run to create some breathing room and eventually led 26-11 at the half. Overall, Clarkston outscored the bobcats 17-5 in the second stanza.

Clarkston (21-2), which has set the program record for wins, outscored Grand Blanc 21-14 in the second half and never allowed them to make a serious threat at the double-digit lead after halftime.

The Wolves outscored Grand Blanc 13-10 in the third quarter and 9-4 in the final quarter. The Bobcats didn’t help their own cause by going just 8-for-22 from the foul line.

Junior Delany Kenny had 15 points and seven rebounds to pace Clarkston. Freshman Erika Davenport added nine points and five rebounds, Christina Jokisch followed with eight points, Tori Trimmer scored six with five boards and Erin davenport had a fine floor game with five points, three assists and three steals for the Wolves.

“Stopping their high-low offense was key. We didn’t let them get a lot of touches inside,” said Wasilk. “Overall I thought this was a great team effort. We had a lot of girls that contributed, which is nice to see this time of year. Other teams can’t concentrate on stopping one or two girls if we spread it around (offensively).”

Kelsey Carson scored six for the Bobcats.

Clarkston’s trek will become much more tougher with a regional including top-20 teams Saginaw Arthur hills and Midland.

“It will be a lot tougher from here on out. In order to win our regional, we will have to beat two very good teams,” admitted Wasilk. “Arthur Hill has a couple of bigs that are very good and they have some quick guards. We’re going to have to play some very good defense to get back to the regional finals.

“More than likely, Midland will win the other game (against Davison), but you never know for sure,” said Wasilk. “I know we would love another shot at Midland. But we can’t look too far ahead. We can only concentrate on Arthur Hill and if we can pull that one out, we’ll worry about Midland.”

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