Defense delivers for Canfield win

The Cardinals listened to coach Pat Pavlansky's instructions, and stymied Niles.
By GEORGE WELKER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AUSTINTOWN -- Pat Pavlansky didn't wave a magic wand.
He didn't come up with any pearls of wisdom.
But, something he said in the huddle before the fourth quarter Saturday clicked with his squad, and Canfield High shut down Niles for a berth in the girls Division II regional tournament.
Canfield (18-6) gave up only four points in the final eight minutes of a hard-fought, physical battle, earning the Austintown district championship with a 49-32 victory.
"I said 'Guys, this is the kind of game we like; We've got to go play. We've got to get in their face, and not give up open shots,' " Pavlansky said of his fourth-quarter instructions.
"I don't know what the difference was. Our kids just guarded them really well in the fourth quarter, no open shots. We rebounded well, and we executed on offense."
Next: Canfield will face Walsh Jesuit, which advanced to the regional by defeating Copley 53-42. The game is at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday at Barberton High School.
The Cardinals put three players in double figures, led by Nicole Vlajkovich's 11 points; Erin Martin and Jenny Miller each scored 10. Martin also had seven assists and three steals, and Miller scorched the nets, making 5-of-6 shots from the field.
Canfield stymied the Metro Athletic Conference's most prolific scoring team, which averaged 60.5 points per game. Niles was also the MAC's best 3-point shooting team, making 37.9 percent of those shots.
Poor shooting: But, Saturday, Niles (13-11) converted just 32 percent of its shots from the field (13-of-41) and only 22 percent (4-of-18) from 3-point range. In the final period, Canfield held Niles to just 2-of-6.
"For four minutes, we don't have a clue. We completely got shut down offensively," Niles coach Marc Morgan said of the fourth-quarter drought.
"We just don't get a good look against them. It's like they pick it up one more step in crunch time, and we just get shut down."
Niles' top offensive threats, Stacia Ray and Marianne Krezeczowski, were a combined 8-of-27 from the field.
Lacking: "We played our 'A' game against Poland [in the district semifinal], but against Canfield, we bring out the 'B', which isn't good enough," Morgan said.
"We always say that our offense comes from our defense. That's what we did," said Vlajkovich, a junior. "We stepped up our defense, and we got easy transition points."
With 1:33 remaining in the third period, Niles tied the score at 28 on a driving basket by Bree Longberry.
But, Miller responded with a basket on a feed from Martin that kicked off a 21-4 run to close out the game for the Cardinals.
12-0 finish: Canfield finished the contest with a 12-0 spurt, highlighted by open shots and lay-ups from Vlajkovich, Miller, Playforth, and a pair of free throws by sophomore Kelly Williams.
"We knew Stacia Ray was their best player out there," said senior Julie Playforth, giving credit to Vlajkovich for her defensive effort.
"She hung in there with her. If we didn't hold [Ray] ... we wouldn't have won this game. Once she gets on a roll, you can't stop her."
Morgan didn't feel badly for his team.
"From where they came from ... coming back and winning 13 games, I'm not upset one bit," he said. "Canfield is a very good program. If we can play at that level, then I'm happy."