LBI: Inside the Game Summary

2016 Oakland Activities Association Play

“Harrison Rallies Late to Win On Senior Night”

Friday, February 26, 2016

Farmington Hills Harrison High School

Senior night is always important in high school sports as parents, classmates and coaches honor the outgoing players for a team.  For Farmington Hills Harrison High School, with rumors abound about the school being closed within the next few years, that to some makes senior night all the more important.  Tonight the Harrison Lady Hawks (12-7) faced off against the Lake Orion Dragons (10-7).

The 1st quarter saw a lot of scoring on both sides.  Most of the scoring for Lake Orion came from Forward Maddie Novak, whose name was mentioned throughout the game as she set a team high 34 points in this game, the next highest point total for Lake Orion had only 7.  Novak would tie it at 8 early in the game and then right before the end of the quarter she put up a basket and a foul.  For Harrison, they would start on an 8-2 run capped off by a steal from Guard Amber Stephens, one of three seniors for the Lady Hawks.  Closer to the end of the quarter Guard Nyla Warren makes the best of a broken play and drives to the net for the layup.  After the 1st quarter Harrison would lead 25-20.

Lake Orion would bounce back in the 2nd with a 9-2 run that lasted over half the quarter.  Once again credit goes to Novak who had another layup to get the run going, then Forward Evelyn Wischmeyer would get the basket and a foul to tie the game.  That would have Harrison trail for most of the quarter but in the closing minutes before the half they would come back to life.  After their drought they managed to put up 4 points in about 10 seconds thanks to Guard Kristen Nelson, another senior, who goes hard in the paint for a layup then picks off the next pass by the Dragons for another basket.  At the half the game would be tied at 38.

The Hawks hit a big wall in the 3rd as they only managed 7 points, most of those coming at the line while Novak would continue to pour it on for Lake Orion.  Not only did she manage 3 layups on 3 possessions, but she also drew the foul and got the “and 1” on the last layup.  “We really wanted to take her out of the game,” said Harrison Head Coach Stephon Wilson, “the game plan wasn’t really good enough, she really got it going and we were just trying to wear her down and get her tired at the end.” After 3 the Dragons would be on top 50-45.

The tables would turn however in the 4th.  This time it would be Lake Orion that would have a cold start to this quarter as they only managed one basket in over 4 and a half minutes.  At the other end of the court, the Lady Hawks would comeback thanks to lots of layups by Nelson and Stephens which would get them off to a 16-2 run for a good part of the 4th.  The Dragons were still not out of it though and Novak would first get a huge triple, then moments later a basket and foul to tie it and the “and 1” to get a 1 point lead.  It would be back and forth for the next minute until Stephens gets a layup with 55 seconds left to take the lead again and then a basket and a foul with 24 seconds to put this one away.  Harrison wins 69-64 and next will take on the winner of Farmington vs North Farmington in the Districts, their game was later on Friday night.

Leading scorers on the night: Harrison: Amber Stephens 26, Kristen Nelson 19, Nyla Warren 10.  Lake Orion: Maddie Novak 34, Evelyn Wischmeyer 7, Jordyn Marchese 4.

Game and Team Highlights

Harrison:

• Two of the three seniors for Harrison, Stephens and Nelson, had great last performance on their home court as they combined for 45 points on the night.
• Harrison as a whole showed great hands on defense. They were able to steal away a lot of balls from Lake Orion.

Lake Orion:

• Maddie Novak put on quite the show for the Dragons.  She had a team high 34 points, 16 in the first half and looked unstoppable the whole game.
• As a team, the Dragons used their size to their advantage as Harrison was unable to defend against them when they would drive to the basket.