At the end of a brutal beating in the Regional 4 Finals at Howell High School Hartland senior Izzy DePestel ran off the court, touched hands with her freshman sister Haley DePrestel and passed the torch to a new generation of Eagles.
Moments earlier senior forward Kennedy Tucker did the same with freshman sister Reese Tucker as she left the court as an Eagle for the final time.
The Eagles are not dead despite being eliminated forcefully from the Division I state girls basketball tournament 65-35 Wednesday night at Howell High School. Izzy DePrestel and Kennedy Tucker laid a solid ground work for their younger teammates who should continue Hartland’s tradition of good basketball.
The Eagles are 196-47 over the last 10 years and have played in eight of the last 14 regional semifinals. A phoenix is about to rise from the ashes of this regional final loss.
“They (the underclassmen) worked so hard,” Izzy DePrestel said. “They listened to us and now it is their turn to go out and do it. They are really good players and I know they are going to go out there and do really good things.”
Sophomore guard Kendall Nokovich has a bright future. Freshman guard Brin Neuer is special. She has great handle and moxy. The gold standard in Livingston County girls’ basketball the past few years has been Howell’s Gabby Piepho – the Caitlin Clark of Livingston County girls hoops— who was named Livingston County player of the year last season by the Livingston Daily.
Neuer does not shoot like Piepho, but I expect her to surpass Howell’s stand out guard.
Hartland came out swinging against Belleville, holding a brief 11-9 first quarter lead. However, turnovers proved costly, and Belleville worked its inside-out game to perfection as players drove to the hole and kicked it to open players on the perimeter.
Belleville’s talent and size also stood out. Three players are expected to play Division I basketball. Rylan Buschell has signed with Central Michigan. Secrette Carter is headed to Marquette and sophomore Sydney Savoury (17 points) was offered by Ohio State at age 12.
A 30-0 Belleville run in the second and third quarters doomed Hartland.
“” If I told them they would be 20-6 and playing in a regional final before the season we would have taken it, in a heartbeat,” coach Michael McKay said. “Unfortunately, it was not the outcome we wanted but we lost to a very good team. They are good all the way around. I wish them luck.”