Back-to-Back District Champ: Hartland Wins Over Howell

Sometimes things are just meant to be — and that seemed to be the case Friday night for the Hartland High School girls baskeball team.

With the Eagles seeing their 10-point halftime lead shrink to as little as one as Howell's Haley Rhoads knocked down multiple 3-pointers, Hartland senior Hailey Pleshakov banked her own three with time running out in the third quarter.

“We were on the edge and panicking a little bit, even though it was kind of a lucky shot, I believe Pleshakov's bank shot three at the buzzer was a big momentum changer in regards to settling us down,” said Hartland head coach Don Palmer. “Even though she didn't call glass, we'll take it.”

“I called the shot in my head,” said Pleshakov with a laugh.

Called or not, Hartland held on in the fourth, winning 39-32 to capture its second straight district title and move on in the state tournament. The Eagles (20-3) move on to play 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against Farmington Hills Mercy (17-5) at Canton High School in a regional semifinal.

“It feels very good," Palmer said. "It's a special year. We tied for the division title and we won the district, plus we won 20 games this year. It's hard to do that.”

Coming up big Friday were seniors Kelly Holda and Kayli Porta who stepped up after Pleshakov went down with apparent muscle cramps in the fourth and would not return. Porta, who finished with a team-high 13 points, stretched the Eagles lead back to 10 after grabbing an offensive rebound, making a layup falling down and converting a three-point play by drawing a foul.

The Eagles — who now have defeated Howell three straight this year — built their lead with a suffocating defense that created turnovers and produced seven total steals in the first half, three from Pleshakov alone. By halftime, the Highlanders only had scored eight points.

“Howell has the heart of a lion and they are just going to keep coming back, we knew who their big three were (Lorkowski, Stoinski, and Kubiak). I haven't saw the stats yet, but I believe we did a good job shutting them down,” said Palmer. “They impact the game because they are very good players, you have to try and slow them down. It was a good game.”