GIRLS BASKETBALL Boardman defenses Canfield for big win

The Spartans remained unbeaten, forcing 31 turnovers.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- For the better part of 13 minutes, the Canfield High girls basketball team showed it belonged on the same court with Boardman.
It was the last 19 minutes of the game that said otherwise.
Amber Bland had 18 points, Brittany Sirak added 17 and the defense forced 31 turnovers as Boardman posted a 63-33 victory.
"We played pretty good for 13 minutes, but our girls learned quickly that this a 32-minute game," Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky said. "We just didn't do the things after the midway point of the second period that we did right out of the gate.
"Boardman shuffled players in and out and just wore us down," he added. "We committed too many turnovers and you can't do that if you expect to hang with a team the caliber of Boardman."
Team effort
Boardman coach Ron Moschella was quick to credit his defense for a superb effort.
"We just weren't ready to play," he said. "Maybe it was that it was a Saturday game, but we just didn't have our game faces on.
"It was a total team effort for us tonight," he added. "This is the deepest team that I have ever had and when they were able to shut Amber [Bland] and Brittany [Durkin] down, Brittany Sirak, Jessie Moore, April Melquist and Emily Hays were there to step up."
Bland scored her first two points of the game with just 16 seconds remaining in the opening period, but 3-point goals by Sirak and Durkin offset four points by the Cardinals' Corey Hoffman in the frame to tie the score at 13.
A lay-up by Emily Wollet at 5:29 of the second quarter gave Canfield a 21-17 lead. It would be its last score until after intermission. Sirak had nine points in the period and Bland added seven as Boardman built a 34-21 halftime margin.
"Canfield really scouted us well," Moschella said. "Anytime you play the Cardinals, you know that you are in for a battle.
"We didn't work the ball into the post tonight like I had hoped, but when we picked it up defensively, we began to play our style of basketball."
Scoring drought for Cards
The Spartans increased their lead to 41-21 on a Durkin lay-up at 5:57 of the third period. When Canfield's Nikki Garrett hit two free throws at 4:19 of the period, she ended a 9:10 scoring drought by the Cardinals and a 23-0 run by the Spartans that produced a 20-point margin.
Sirak, scoreless in the third quarter, then netted five of her team's 13 points in the final period as the Spartans held the Cardinals to single-digit scoring the last three periods.
"This game will make us better," Pavlansky said. "Our girls are great learners and they won't let this happen again. We cannot go through something like this without learning from the experience."
The Spartans improved to 3-0, winning for the second time on their home court, while the Cardinals fell to 3-1.