GRAND LEDGE — Christina Dixon knows the outside expectations surrounding the Haslett girls basketball team aren’t as high this winter after the program lost a core of seniors who helped make it one of the state’s best in Division 2 last season.
But the sophomore is ready to show that the younger Vikings can still be a strong team despite losing several players from that 22-2 squad who are now playing in college at the Division II level.
That message was sent Tuesday night.
Dixon was among the contributors as Haslett opened its season with a 78-50 road victory over Grand Ledge.
In her varsity debut, Dixon scored a team-high 15 points to lead the Vikings, who had three sophomores in their starting lineup. Sophomore Kaitlyn Johnson added 14 points.
“We’ve been playing together for a couple of years now so we have a lot of chemistry,” Dixon said of the sophomore class. “We all know how we play and I think we can do a lot of damage this year.”
Dixon and Johnson helped set the tone early for Haslett. Both had six points in the opening quarter as the Vikings built a 17-7 advantage.
“They brought energy and they brought toughness,” Haslett coach Ross Baker said of Dixon and Johnson. “Christina definitely knows how to score the basketball. She did a great job defensively as well. Kaitlyn — she does so many things well. (Tuesday) she scored it really well and she also was a great passer and a great rebounder. I was really proud of both of their efforts.”
Dixon shook off early nerves to shine in her varsity debut. She scored the game’s opening basket off a steal and settled in from there.
“It was a pretty cool experience because I’ve never had this experience before,” Dixon said. “Having it with my team was a really pleasant experience to have.”
Joining the sophomores in double figures scoring for Haslett was Jadelyn Trotter, who had 13 points.
Alayna Armstrong had a game-high 17 points for Grand Ledge, which included 11 in the second half. Olivia Navin added 10 points for the Comets.
Contact Brian Calloway at [email protected]. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.