PHOTOS: Clarkston gets past Kettering roadblock to win regional title

Clarkston's Maddie Beck (23) and Kayla Luchenbach (32) celebrate a 50-33 win over Waterford Kettering that gave the Wolves program its first regional title since 2005. 

WEST BLOOMFIELD >> For three years, the Clarkston Wolves have known that — on paper, at least, with their unusual size — they had the chance at something special on the hardwood.

Before this season, though, the Wolves hadn’t quite been able to bring that together, unable to get past the Southfield-Lathrup (and later Southfield A&T) roadblock in the regular season, or the Waterford Kettering roadblock in the postseason.

Each of the last two campaigns had ended with a loss to Kettering in districts, denying the Wolves’ Big Three — senior 6-footers Kayla Luchenbach, Maddie Beck and Molly Nicholson — the title they’d been hoping for.

That was certainly on their minds on Thursday, when they met Kettering in the regional finals at West Bloomfield High.

The Big Three cominbed for 41 of Clarkston’s 50 points, as the Wolves (20-4) pulled away from Kettering (17-7) to win, 50-33. 

“It was always in the back of our heads, but we just wanted to move on. This is a new game, a new season, a whole new team, and we just wanted to learn from that,” said the Oakland University-bound Luchenbach, who had 13 of her game-high 23-points in the first quarter alone. “Coming into it, there was a little bit of a mental game for us, losing two years in a row. It was a huge game for us, a huge game for everyone to step up, everyone off the bench, all the young players.”

“I think it gave us really good motivation,” said Beck, who had eight of her 12 in the fourth, when the Wolves were holding off a potential Kettering comeback. “Third time’s the charm.”

It’s been a charmed run, so far, too.

The program’s first regional crown since 2005 gives the Wolves a third trophy for the season, added to a share of the Oakland Activities Association Red Division title, and the first district title since 2012.

Clarkston moves on to Tuesday’s quarterfinal at Grand Blanc, where they’ll take on top-ranked Saginaw Heritage (23-1).

Then again, this deep run is not a huge surprise. This team has had that potential, all along.

“Yes. … Our Big Three, they’re a special group, and they play together all summer. With the addition of the freshman, Kaelyn Kaul, who comes in and works her tail off every second she’s on the floor, we knew we had the pieces to do something big,” third-year coach Christine Rogers said. “We scheduled a tough schedule this year. We went up against (Macomb) Dakota, we went up against (Warren) Cousino, we went up against (Ypsilanti) Arbor Prep, because we wanted to be in high-pressure games, with teams that were competitive, so that we knew how to handle it when we got into a situation like this.”

That experience paid off, as did the lessons learned by the Big Three over their careers.

Luchenbach was on fire early, not only scoring points, but getting the Kettering bigs — the 6-foot-3 duo of junior Claire Barghahn and senior Marissa Brady — into foul trouble early. Barghahn picked up two first-quarter fouls, limiting her playing time in the first half. She finished with a team-high nine points.

“We went into this knowing that they have height, but we have the experienced bigs. Molly and Kayla have developed so much over their high school years, and you can tell how Kayla played. She was just ready to put her team on her back and carry them,” Rogers said. “I think that (early foul trouble) shows the experience. Molly and Kayla knew they had to go straight up on defense, because they were so important. Claire is going to be a great player: she can move, she can shoot, she can do everything. But Kayla knew, with her experience, she could take advantage of the situation.”

With Barghahn in foul difficulty, and Clarkston playing a match-up zone with its guards to limit shooters, it made it hard for Kettering’s Ashley Watson to get off her shots. She finished with seven points, as the Captains trailed 17-11 after one quarter, and 30-18 at the half. 

Kettering cut the deficit to nine points (at 40-31) with two quick buckets to start the fourth,  but Clarkston’s lead ballooned back up to 15 points (at 48-33) when Beck nailed a 3-pointer from the corner with three minutes left in the game. 

“I mean, I felt like I wasn’t doing much at the beginning. I was helping out on defense, as much as I could, and giving Kayla as much as I could for her huge game,” Beck said. “Coming down the floor, I just felt like I needed to get one, and that just hyped me up for the rest of the game.”

Beck’s two free throws were the only score by either team the rest of the way, as the Wolves held on to win their first regional crown in a dozen seasons. 

Here are a few photos from Thursday night's game at West Bloomfield High School: