West Branch's fast start comes in handy at end

Warriors led Canfield by 25 points but only won by seven.
CANFIELD -- Defending Division II state champion West Branch High came to Canfield to revive a girls basketball rivalry and came away with a 41-34 victory Wednesday night.
The Warriors (2-0) opened the contest with Tori Arndt and Evelyn Woods, two of three starters from their state title squad, hitting four of their first five shots for an 8-1 lead.
A 3-pointer by McKenzie Wallace made the score 11-1 with 3 minutes, 8 seconds remaining in the period. Canfield didn't have a field goal until Natalie Fox came off the bench to pop one in at the 1:51 mark of the first quarter.
West Branch's 13-5 lead after the first quarter was extended to 27-9 at the half as 3-pointers by Woods and Aimee Rice were part of a 12-0 Warriors run.
Change in strategy
Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky, during a timeout, ordered full-court pressure. That helped the Cardinals (2-2) outscore West Branch 24-6 the remainder of the game.
"West Branch is a very good team and they really hurt us with their early scoring" said Pavlansky. "We should have gone to man pressure earlier and that fault lies with me, because when we did, we just about shut them down."
The Warriors still led 37-23 after the third quarter, but by the 4:45 mark of the fourth period, Stephanie Zunic's 3-pointer closed the margin to just six points, 37-31.
Zunic made a free throw with 1:55 to go to make it 37-32, but what turned out to be the biggest play of the game happened for West Branch.
A turnover, one of 11 by the Warriors in the second half, had just given Canfield the ball. Junior Aimee Rice came out of nowhere to block a shot and give West Branch possession. At the other end of the court Rice, with 1:02 to go, scored a pair of free throws.
Key rebound
With under a minute remaining, Rice missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but she beat everyone to the rebound and was fouled again. She sank both free throws to finish the Warriors' scoring.
"I felt someone had to step up when the pressure was on and I am glad I was able to do it," said Rice.
Melissa West, one of three freshman in Canfield's starting lineup, was the game's top scorer with 11 points and she also had seven rebounds. Zunic added eight points.
Woods and Rice scored nine points each and Arndt had eight points and nine rebounds.
"This is a big rivalry and I never expected to walk over Canfield even when we had the big lead," said West Branch coach Chuck Campbell.