Leland girls basketball claimed three more wins over the past week to jump out to a 9-1 overall record and sit atop the Northwest Conference with an undefeated record.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily perfect but we just play really well as a team. We just have a common mindset. We just know what we need to do and what we all want to do,” Leland senior Ella Knudsen said. “We are going to put our best out there and go from there.”
On Friday, Leland defeated Benzie Central 27-17 after braving the snowstorms that canceled practices last week.
The Comets had a slow start and fell behind to the Huskies 8-3 at end of first quarter before the Comets took a 13-10 lead into halftime.
Leland only allowed seven points in the second half to win 27-17.
“We will continue working hard in practice, getting ready for games, fixing up the little things so that everything plays out,” Elli Miller said.
The Comets were led by Miller with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists; Ariah Amin 6 points, 5 rebounds; Lorna Wiesen 5 points, 4 steals; Ella Knudsen 4 rebounds, 5 assists.
“After missing out on practices and games this past week due to the weather we were happy to be able to get back on the court,” Leland coach Ryan Knudsen said.
Leland then turned around Saturday and defeated Brethren in a thriller 29-26.
“With tough back to back Northwest Conference games this week, it made for a challenging week, but I was very proud of our effort and perseverance against two very tough opponents with having very little time as a team to prepare due to all of the cancellations last week,” coach Knudsen said. “We did a great job though by keeping our focus to start the game defensively versus Brethren and were able to hold them to only ten points through the end of the third quarter with great transition defense and sharp defensive rotations. The back to back games did catch up with us a little bit in the fourth quarter, but overall we did a great job of executing when we needed to finish the game.”
Leland played TC Christian Tuesday and won 52-10.
Miller 10 points, 4 rebounds; Knudsen 8 points, 3 steals; Hadley Bison 7 points, 9 steals; Alyssa Korson 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals; Kally Sluiter 6 points. For TC Christian, Abigail Miller had 5 Points.
The Comets travel to Frankfort tonight at seven for a brawl with the Panthers.
Leland senior Ella Knudsen guards Glen Lake senior Jesse Pugh during a rivalry game Jan. 17. Photo courtesy of Jill Plamondon.
