Hartland's Girls Basketball Loses in Regionals to a Tough Mercy Squad

CANTON — Farmington Hills Mercy High School senior captain Janelle McQueen walked off the court at Canton High School to a standing ovation from the Mercy fans.

Her game-high 24 points not only helped her team tie the game during an astonishing 23-2 run in the first half but, her 10 points in the third helped put the game out of reach, as Mercy defeated Hartland 52-29 in the first round of the state tournament. The Marlins (18-5) now move on to play Canton on Thursday in the regional final.

The loss ends what has been one of Hartland's best seasons highlighted by co-division and district titles and reaching the 20-win plateau for the first time ever. The run was all the more impressive as the Eagles overcame several key injuries to starters that included senior Kayli Porta who returned for the playoffs despite a torn ACL. The close-knit team and head coach Don Palmer greeted each other with open arms after final buzzer.

“I’m so proud of us," Porta said. "We accomplished so much. We have no regrets. They’re a good team.”

Hartland (20-4) started the game strong with its trademark stingy defense as Mercy missed its first four shots and turned the ball over four times. The Eagles pounced on the easy chances with baskets by Kelly Holda, Hailey Pleshakov and Bailee Maggert to gain 9-0 lead just three minutes into the contest.

“Unfortunately we started slow. They were playing a different speed than we were,” Mercy head coach Gary Morris said. “By the end of the first we had settled down and were playing a little bit better. They were out quickening us there, but we wanted to play a fast tempo against them. We were just sluggish to start — definitely slow out of the gate.”

However, after a Mercy timeout with 5:48 left in the first they switched up their defense to a full-court press that they ran the rest of the game. The Marlins held Hartland to two points from the 5:18 mark of the first to the 5:05 mark of the second quarter and forced a staggering 28 turnovers by the Eagles on the night. Eagles also struggled from the floor shooting just 4-for-15 and didn’t hit a single 3-pointer.

“I think the press resulted in some turnovers. But they were the worst kind because they resulted in baskets,” Palmer said. “After they made that run and got us down, we panicked. We’d shoot, they’d release and we didn’t get back. We were kinda playing with our hearts and not with our heads.”

“They’re a quality opponent. We wanted to attack the press, but we didn’t wanna go up and down with them. Once it started, we couldn’t stop it. We were there for a half. We could have played a little bit better.”

The Marlins outscored Hartland 18-6 in the second to take the lead for good, although Hartland battled back and cut the deficit to eight before the half after Holda scored on a hook shot after a pass from Pleshakov.

But Hartland couldn't keep up with Mercy in the third as the Marlins again scored 18 points in a quarter to essential ice the game. McQueen, the only Marlin to reach double digits, led the charge with three consecutive layups in transition following Hartland turnovers. The senior guard missed just three shots and 16 of her points came in the paint. Her 24 points are the most Hartland has allowed by a single player since the team's loss to Grand Blanc when Shareta Brown put up 24 on them.

Holda had 15 points to lead the Eagles. She also led all players in rebounds with seven.