Salem girls defeat Poland; Quakers 14-1

An aggressive defense disrupted the Bulldogs in a 46-26 win.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
POLAND -- Try to talk to Salem High girls basketball coach Steve Stewart about the Quakers' offense and he gets quite defensive.
Despite having five scorers on the floor at any time, it has been Salem's defense that has been the catalyst for its success this season.
Defense was again Salem's calling card Wednesday, in an impressive 46-26 win over Poland in a Metro Athletic Conference game.
The 26 points allowed was just the fifth-best effort by the defense this year. The Quakers are on pace to better last year's school record of 35.8 points allowed per game.
Key to win
"We played very good defense again," Stewart said. "The girls played very hard defensively and that defense has been carrying us a long way."
Salem (14-1, 8-0) came out with the idea of slowing down Poland's main scoring threat, Steffi Graf. The Quakers succeeded.
Graf scored four first-half points and nine overall as the Quakers defenders hounded her, especially in the first half.
Poland scored three points in the first quarter and didn't score a point for nearly 13 minutes in the first half. At halftime, Salem led, 20-7.
"They're very good defensively," Poland coach Jamie Dunn said. "They get up in your face and disrupt your rhythm and they take you out of things.
"We're still not far enough along experience-wise to deal with it," Dunn said. "That's why they were so effective in what they were doing to us."
First meeting
Earlier this season, Salem defeated Poland (9-4, 5-3) 71-32, but Stewart knew that the Bulldogs would be a challenge at home.
He felt his team came ready to play.
"We never looked at that first game and thought this would be easy," Stewart said. "We knew we had to go in and play hard and execute in order to walk away with a win here."
While Salem brought its A-game to Poland defensively, the offense did what it always does best.
The Quakers distributed the basketball and got a balanced scoring effort.
Senior Renee Farina scored 11 points to lead eight Quakers in the scoring column. Alyson Cotter added nine points.
The Bulldogs, who start one senior, battled Salem despite falling behind early in the game. Poland had its best quarter in the fourth as they outscored the Quakers 13-10 while both teams' starters were still on the floor.
Bulldogs' leader
Erin Hawkins scored six of her team-high 11 points in the period and the junior center also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
"I can't fault our effort," Dunn said. "Our kids played hard the whole game and that's all I look for.
"We're not as good as they are right now," Dunn said. "They go nine deep and our only experienced player is Steffi Graf."
Salem can clinch the MAC title with a victory Friday night against Canfield. The Cardinals' only conference loss came to the Quakers, 60-34, on Jan. 5.