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Southfield-Lathrup pressures Clarkston into 24 turnovers, wins by 10
thrup Village – It took Southfield-Lathrup 12 minutes to start playing the type of basketball it must if it expects to be a contender in the Class A tournament next month.
Southfield-Lathrup scored the last 10 points of the first half to take a 24-14 lead and the Chargers made it stand as they defeated Clarkston 57-47 in an Oakland Activities Association Red Division opener on Friday at Southfield-Lathrup.
Southfield-Lathrup (8-1), ranked No. 2 in Class A, has won seven straight.
“We’re a team that needs to put pressure on the defensive end,” Southfield-Lathrup coach Michele Marshall said. “It’s pace. I tell them sometimes that you’re boring me. It’s just the way we play.”
Southfield-Lathrup plays fast, too fast for Clarkston on this night. Southfield-Lathrup forced 24 turnovers, 14 in the second half.
Fundamentally, Clarkston (6-3) was off its game. The Wolves missed all five of its free throw attempts in the first half and were 12-for-20 for the game.
Antoinette Miller started the 10-0 run late in the first half with a putback with 3:32 left and Deja Church followed with consecutive baskets. Baskets by Cydney Ellis and Kendall Terrell completed the run.
“We were playing pretty well until then,” Clarkston coach Tim Wasilk said. “They made some baskets. We made some turnovers. We’ve seen pressure before. We played Grosse Pointe South. Tonight, energy-wise, we were missing. Our free throw shooting was bad. Those (misses) are momentum killers.”
Three times Southfield-Lathrup opened up a 16-point lead in the second half. Clarkston did go on a 17-9 run to end the third quarter to close within 42-33.
Taiye Bello’s 3-point play pushed the Chargers’ lead to 51-35 with 4:58 left and Clarkston never got closer than 10.
Miller led Southfield-Lathrup with 19 points and five rebounds. Church added 13 points and four rebounds, and Bello had six rebounds and one block.
Held to four points in the first half, Erika Davenport scored 22 for Clarkston.
