Fenton Girls Wins Fourth Straight

Four straight wins by an average of 29.5 points per game is certainly a sign that the girls' basketball team has bounced back from .

But ensuring that players are still maintaining their mental edges and playing with precision can often be a daunting task as attention spans sometimes wane in blowout losses. There's a simple way Fenton coach Brad DeWitt keeps the focus, however: defense.

Fenton players are expected to defend the same way whether they are in a tightly contested game or have a lead bigger than 20 points.

"It can be a challenge," DeWitt said. "But the way you keep them focused is by playing defense and scoring off the defense when the offense isn't working. That's really what we stress."

Fenton (13-3, 11-2 Metro League) beat Lapeer West 49-24 Friday. The way the team built the lead and maintained the lead started at the defensive end.

In the first quarter, Fenton used their trapping defense to force turnovers and build a 21-4 lead, creating offense from their defense.

In the second quarter, the offense stalled as Fenton only scored four points, but the lead — 17 points — didn't change because Fenton's defense also only gave up four points.

"I felt we kind of lost focus (in the second quarter) and weren't executing the way we should," DeWitt said. "They understand that they have to refocus and they did that."

Fenton's shots began falling again in the third quarter, and the defense held Lapeer West scoreless for nearly six minutes at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter.

Gabrielle Rivette led all scorers with 11. Sam Granger and Alyssa Ostrowski each scored 10 and Payton Maxheimer scored eight.

Although the last four games have not been that competitive on the scoreboard, it has allowed DeWitt to get significant playing time for many of his bench players.

"That's huge," DeWitt said. "We have kids in practive every day working, and it's nice when we're able to get them experience and time in there too."

DeWitt and Rivette were both honored after the game. Fenton athletic director Michael Bakker presented Rivette with the game ball from the Jan. 21 game against Kearsley when and DeWitt was presented the game ball from the Feb. 1 game against Brandon when he .