Basketball roundup: Brighton's Mary Copple reaches 1,000-point milestone in style
BELLEVILLE — With the opportunities dwindling to reach a major career milestone, senior Mary Copple produced the biggest back-to-back performances of her four-year Brighton basketball career.
After scoring 28 points Saturday against Grand Ledge, Copple scored 27 Tuesday night in a 54-45 victory over Belleville in her final regular-season game to get safely past the 1,000-point mark.
Copple has 1,010 career points with only one more game guaranteed, a district semifinal matchup with Hartland or Fenton at 7 p.m. March 1 at Hartland.
She also had 10 rebounds and three steals against Belleville, which entered the game with a 17-4 record.
“I know this is an important thing for her to reach that milestone of 1,000 points,” Brighton coach Bob Wellman said. “She put a little bit too much pressure on herself early and was not being as balanced as she had been. The last two games, she came out and hit shots when she needed to.”
When Copple scored point No. 1,000 in the fourth quarter, Wellman called timeout.
“Actually, it was right on a foul, too,” he said. “It was a good time to call timeout to give her a little acknowledgment, as well. We let the girls give her a hug. The announcer did make a little announcement and let them know why they were all hugging her on the floor, which was nice of Belleville.”
Payton VanDeven scored 13 points, while Makena Smith had 12 rebounds for Brighton (14-8), which continued its streaky season by winning its fifth consecutive game. The Bulldogs began the season 0-3, won nine in a row, then lost five straight games before their current streak.
“We have started to play a little bit better basketball the last couple of weeks after our little five-game skid,” Wellman said. “Going into Belleville against just an extremely athletic team like them, we came out and did some good things early.
“Their pressure is just nonstop. You’ve got to be able to maintain your patience. A couple times in the third quarter, we did not do so; we let them back into it. This is a big win for us. It gives us five in a row going into districts. We do not have an easy district.”
Hartland 54, Dearborn 44
Hartland senior Liv Linden scored a career-high 22 points, as Livingston County’s three teams went 3-0 in crossovers with KLAA East opponents.
Izzy DePestel had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Sarah Rekowski had eight points for the Eagles (12-10).
Ionia 48, Fowlerville 45
Tori Briggs and Tommi Kleinschmidt scored 11 points each for Fowlerville (4-17), which concludes its regular season at 6 p.m. Friday at St. Johns.
Angelle Haan had eight points and Ava Kuch seven for the Gladiators, who open district play at 7 p.m. Monday against host Pinckney.
DISTRICT SCHEDULES: Livingston County girls basketball district schedules
Boys basketball
Charyl Stockwell 42, Bloomfield Hills Roeper 41
Henry Munkres grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a putback at the buzzer for his second game-winning basket of the season in the final seconds of a game.
Munkres finished with 12 points, five assists and four steals. Adam Surowiec had 10 points and Seth Campbell grabbed seven rebounds for the Sentinels (11-7).
Skiing
SEMSL meet
Brighton’s John Popov was fifth in giant slalom and sixth in slalom in the Southeastern Michigan Ski League meet.
Teammate Hunter Post took eighth in slalom and 10th in giant slalom. The Bulldogs were fifth out of 11 teams.
Brighton’s girls were fourth, led by Isabella Militello’s seventh-place finish in slalom and 14th-place showing in giant slalom. Charyl Stockwell’s Madelynn Lindsey was fifth in slalom.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton's Mary Copple reaches 1,000-point milestone in style
