LAPEER >> The West Bloomfield Lakers won a rubber match against the Clarkston Wolves, 47-42, to claim another regional title on Wednesday night.

“It feels great. We worked really hard. It’s just a great feeling,” Lakers junior captain Sheridan Beal said. “It took all of us. It took a lot of hard work. It took the coaching and just being poised. We knew that the other team was going to go on a run. But we just had to make sure that we stayed calm and kept working and take it quarter-by-quarter. I think that’s what got us to the win.”

West Bloomfield took the lead for good midway through the third quarter. Behind 27-25, the Lakers scored the next nine points to take a 34-27 lead, and they never trailed again.

Clarkston did have a run in them, cutting the lead to a single point early in the fourth quarter, only to see West Bloomfield reel off eight points in a row to take the biggest lead of the game for either team at 42-33.

West Bloomfield’s play in and around the paint proved key down the stretch. The Lakers got inside scoring and piled up a big rebounding edge (31-16) that helped them get extra chances and convert them into much-needed points in what was a tight game throughout. Junior Londyn Hall and senior Breasia Gamble-Jones combined for 31 points and 19 rebounds, largely from in close, to help drive the Lakers to victory

“It’s not by chance. We work on that, but at the end of the day, I still think we could do better,” Lakers head coach Darren McAllister said.

Beal poured in a team-high 18 points for West Bloomfield as the Lakers always seemed to have one of Hall, Gamble-Jones, or Beal going for much of the game.

Clarkston led much of the first half, including virtually the entire first quarter, finishing the opening eight minutes with a 15-11 lead. But the Wolves couldn’t stretch that advantage when they had opportunities, and never really felt synchronized offensively all night. They had spurts where they would string a few good possessions together, but offensive consistency largely eluded them. Elli Robak led the team with 18 points, and Brooklyn Covert added 13 for Clarkston.

“I don’t know that we ever truly got into our offense. We were so scattered, and we were doing it to ourselves. We just never truly got into any offense, and we kind of got what we got,” Wolves head coach Aaron Goodnough said. He added that, “I’m proud of the girls that they fought through it. It was never pretty. We got some good opportunities, but we just couldn’t get over that hump. We dug ourselves too much a hole in the third quarter.”

West Bloomfield is now 18-8 and advances to the Division 1 quarterfinals next Tuesday where they will play Utica Ford. The Lakers have been to the last three state finals, winning two of them, including a blowout over Grand Blanc in last year’s final. But this is largely a new group of players from the ones who made those previous runs.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be a close game. Clarkston is a tough team. We split during the year,” McAllister said. “A lot of people think we are experienced. We are an experienced program. But these ladies haven’t had the ride of a district championship, a regional championship. They haven’t won the state championship. So they’re still learning.”

Added McAllister, “I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the effort, but at the end of the day this isn’t what we’re looking for. We’re looking for something bigger, so we’re ready to get back in the gym tomorrow.”

Clarkston, who also dropped out in the regional final last season, finishes the year 18-8 after winning the OAA Red title, thanks in part to splitting the regular season series with the Lakers. Finishing top of the table was no small feat considering half of the league played for a regional final Wednesday night, including Ferndale, who fell to defending D2 champion Detroit Edison.

“It’s the first time a school other than West Bloomfield has won the Red in, I think, eight years. So we’re very happy with that. We’ve happy with the progress of some of the girls we have coming back as well,” Goodnough said. “We’ve got some depth, and over the summer we can build on that depth. We’re young, young, young. So we’ll be fine.”

While the Wolves will bring back 11 players from this year’s team, they also graduate four seniors, including three starters.

“This is the first class that I’ve had come in go from freshmen all the way to seniors. They’re just an amazing bunch. They’re as tight as all could be,” Goodnough said. “I’m just so thankful.”