With 0.6 seconds remaining, the Hartland-Howell girls district Finals at Fenton, as usual, hung in the balance.
Hartland junior forward Kennedy Tucker launched the second of two free throws at the basket. The ball bounced, rattled and rolled, teasing a crowd of about 1,000 captivated spectators. If the ball fell left Hartland and Howell were tied again, likely headed to a second overtime. If it fell right then Howell would celebrate its second consecutive trip to the Division I Regional semifinals Monday at Milford High School.
The ball actually popped slightly left but caught enough of the rim to fall harmlessly to the floor where the Howell Highlanders began a mad-capped celebration with arms raised to the sky and screams raised to octaves never heard before at FHS.
“When it got rough we didn’t let the crowd or (Hartland) get to us, because we were playing for each other,” said Howell junior forward Maurise Mikus.
The Highlanders knew this game would come down to the final moments even though they jumped to a 15-6 lead. This should have been Game 7 of a seven-game series because of all the drama and subplots. It was Howell trying to avenge two regular season losses to Hartland. It was Hartland’s twin towers of 6-foot-3 Sarah Renkowski and 6-0 Aubree Meyer against the pressing and ball hawking Brooklyn Brooks, Kylie Pung and Alison Farr. It was the delicious match up of Hartland’s Izzy DePrestel and Howell’s Gabby Piepho(10 points).
And it was senior guard Jaylen Nokovich putting on a defensive show and pumping in 14 points.
It was played before a loud crowd who moved and shook the gym on every play. And the poor officials. Every call was met with anger, whether it was right or wrong. In other words it was two rivals going at it where every game feels like a brawl.
Howell and Hartland is a coin toss every time they meet. It is rock, paper scissors.
“It is a game that got away from us,” said Hartland coach Mike McKay. “I thought early on we were too hyped up. Later we settled down. I am so proud of these kids. A couple of shots rimmed in and out. They looked good at the moment,”
Close but no cigar.
Hartland fought back because of its decided size down low. Meyer (10 points, eight rebounds) blocked shots, grabbed rebounds and made a put back with 1.6 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime.
“It was intense,” said Gabby Piepho. “They went on a run. We went on a run, but we had to keep working like we did. We ended up on top because we worked as a team and we believed in each other all the way through.”