Bill Khan – Livingston Daily (Feb. 22, 2023)
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.”
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.”
