BROWNSTOWN TWP — A new challenge emerged for the Brownstown Woodhaven girls basketball team on Tuesday night.
In their home contest vs Downriver League foe Trenton, Woodhaven was without the services of Lila Megyesi. An all-News-Herald honoree in both her freshman and sophomore seasons, Megyesi was sidelined on Tuesday after suffering an injury in the Warriors’ previous game vs Lincoln Park on Jan 23.No Megyesi? No problem for head coach Rick Niemi, who saw his Woodhaven bunch remain unbeaten in DRL play with a stingy 34-16 winning effort vs the visiting Trojans of Trenton.
“That’s really awesome to see,” Niemi said after the game. “It again shows all of the hard work that these girls have put in. It’s a ‘next girl up’ mentality. (Sophomore Kendall Cunningham) stepped in and did a great job defensively, and we had girls come off the bench and do a great job as well.
“It’s a great team win,” Niemi added. “It shows that we have some depth there where we can fill in certain spots and wear down teams if need to.”
The collective effort on the part of Woodhaven sans Megyesi was important given the team’s relative struggles offensively on Tuesday. In fact, the 34 points matches their second-lowest output in any game this season.
That said, the Warriors put together one of their better showings on the other end of the floor. The 16 points are the second-fewest they have surrendered to an opponent this winter, and it’s a new season-low mark for Trenton through now 13 games played.
“I really liked our effort defensively,” Niemi said. “They executed the plan that we wanted to do. We were able to flash some skills, we were able to rebound, and the girls worked hard. Trenton is a good team, so that’s a testament to how hard these girls worked tonight.”
That defense for Woodhaven was on display from the opening tip Tuesday night.
After Trenton scored on their second possession of the game in the opening minute to make it an early 2-2 score, the Warriors created some separation almost right away. A very drawn-out 14-0 run exhausted roughly a dozen minutes of game action.
The second quarter was a difficult one for both sides. The first basket wasn’t made until under three minutes to go before halftime. Trenton, in particular, was held to just two made shots in the first half and faced a 15-point deficit going into the intermission.
“We struggle to score,” Trenton head coach Janet Haddad said after the game. “I have a couple kids that want to score, and nobody else really wants to. They’re all a little timid to attack. The girls are learning a lot this year, and we’re asking a lot of them.
They’ve been taking it in stride, wearing it on the shoulders, and they’re doing a great job,” Haddad continued. “But it’s still a lot.”
The lead for Woodhaven grew to nearly 20 by the end of the third before Trenton found far and away its best stretch of offense on the night.
The Trojans scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and kept the Warriors scoreless for nearly the first six minutes. The big deficit and scoring woes early, however, doomed Haddad’s crew as well as their three-game win streak coming in.
“Offensively, they just haven’t figured all of that out yet,” Haddad said. “They can through with their defensive effort, and they’re learning all of their rotations. But we struggle to make shots. And at times it’s not just making shots, it’s even taking shots.
“We’ll get there, we’re just not there yet.”
In Megyesi’s absence, Woodhaven saw her classmate and another former two-time all-area honoree in Spencer Davidson pick up the slack. Davidson had a game-high 15 points for the Warriors.
Haddad called Davidson the “best player in the Downriver League.” Her coaching counterpart on Tuesday praised the Trojans for making his standout junior and the rest of his squad earn it.
“They’re such a well-coached team,” Niemi said. “(Haddad) does a good job with those girls. I give them a lot of credit for coming out and making us work hard. We just got out early and were able to maintain that lead.
“The most important thing is that we got another (conference) win, and the girls continue to climb that ladder.”
Senior Harper Barnhart added five points for Woodhaven, while another senior in Abigail Loger chipped in with four points.
Trenton got half of its scoring output from Alencia Mace. The senior tallied six of her team-best eight points in that fourth quarter when the Trojans were attempting to make something of a comeback.
UP NEXT
Woodhaven (10-4, 9-0) will have the rest of the week off before beginning a three-game road swing vs conference foe Southgate Anderson next Tuesday, Feb 3.
The next game for Trenton (9-4, 5-4 DRL) is also against Anderson at home on Friday, Jan 30. Haddad reinforced the importance of moving on from Tuesday’s loss, a microcosm of her season-long message and outlook for the Trojans in her first season at the helm.
“We’re 9-4,” Haddad said. “Wey’re having a successful year. But we definitely need to put it behind us and bounce back. We have to look at a lot of things. It’s about building these girls and their basketball minds, and building their confidence back up from last year.
“That continues with bouncing back from (tonight).”
Photo gallery of Trenton vs Brownstown Woodhaven in a DRL girls basketball matchup
