GIRLS BASKETBALL Springfield remains perfect with road win

Angelina Fiumara scored 18 points in the Tigers' win at Lowellville.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LOWELLVILLE -- Last season, the Springfield High girls basketball team shared the Inter-County League title with Lowellville.
After posting a 56-47 road win over the Rockets on Monday, the Tigers control their own destiny for this year's outright crown.
Angelina Fiumara scored 18 points and Lindsay Johnson scored 12 second-half points as the Tigers used a 20-8 second-half run to beat the Rockets for the second time.
Springfield (15-0, 9-0) also defeated Lowellville 49-43 on Jan. 5.
"This game was everything that we thought it would be -- hard fought and with plenty of emotion," Tigers coach Sandi Kohler said. "We're not a dominant team so we must focus on the game at hand.
"Angelina is the player that we want to guard the opponent's best player, hoping she will keep her at bay," Kohler said. "That is exactly what happened. She gave everyone else a chance to kick their game up a notch."
Back and forth
The game had six ties and six lead changes as the Tigers used an 8-2 run to end the first quarter with the score tied at 13-all.
"We knew that it would be a real fight for us despite the fact that it was played on our home court," Lowellville coach Tony Matisi said.
"Foul trouble hurt us in the first half. When you lose your top two scorers [Amanda Nero and Dana Donatelli] for a major portion of the first half due to foul trouble, your game plan changes."
Fiumara scored six of her game-high 18 points in the second quarter as the Tigers forged a 27-24 halftime lead.
Comeback
The Rockets (10-4, 6-2) got eight of Rebecca Basista's team-high 13 points in the third quarter, cutting the Tigers' lead to 37-35.
"Rebecca Basista really stepped her game up a notch for us," Matisi said. "A senior, she really showed her leadership when we needed it."
Johnson, who scored just two points for the Tigers through the first three quarters, scored 10 points in the final period as Lowellville never got closer than six points.
"At crunch time, they turned it up a notch and their pressure simply wore us down," Matisi said. "Some bad passes during that time didn't help our cause."
The Tigers were 20-of-46 from the field while the Rockets were 16-of-42. Springfield made 15-of-26 free throw attempts while Lowellville was 14-of-20.