Howell center Lilly Williams wanted to bring down the thunder.
Her eyes lit up when she received an outlet pass near mid-court in the third quarter with the only thing standing in her way of the basket being air.
Dunk!
That was the goal of the 6-foot-5 center, who is headed to Michigan State to play next season.
She wanted to throw down a right-handed slammer and ignite an enthused student section and put the exclamation point on a 90-26 blowout home girls basketball victory over Clarkston Everest Collegiate (0-2) Friday night.
But one of the Everest guards recovered in time to foul Williams and put a halt to the excitement.
She turned to the student section and uttered a half apology.
“I was like dang they took away my dunk,” Williams said.
Howell coach Jason Piepho has vowed to get a dunk for Williams. Maybe that happens today in the Best of Michigan Holiday Classic when Howell (2-0) faces state power Detroit Edison (1-1), which is 91-19 the last four seasons and won state titles in 2022 and 2024.
This Howell team is a lot different than the band of pip squeaks that owns a 72-28 record the last four seasons, two KLAA titles and two trips to the regionals. Howell is still figuring out how to use the 6-5 Williams, who was home schooled the last three years and did not play high school ball.
Howell has more size up front in 6-1 junior Gabby Fishhaber, who loves to pound the boards for put backs.
Teams must pick their poison. Do they bump and grind and try to get Williams off her game inside? Or do they try to shut down the hot outside shooting by Howell’s guards? Everest did neither.
Williams used her strong right hand to play bully ball around the basket. The rest of the Highlanders hit 10 three-point shots. Howell scored the first 13 points of the game and used a 16-0 run in the second quarter to take command, 48-11.
Gabby Piepho, Howell's all-time scoring leader added 12 points, as did Hannah Ralko, who scored all her points in the first quarter.
“It has been an adjustment having (Williams) because we are doing different things,” coach Jason Piepho said. “The gravity is different. Grand Blanc was doubling her and shading her hard. We got open looks (outside). Everest saw this and tried to take away our shooters. Lilly was open and got some open looks. Coaches have to pick their poison.”