Spartans rally past McKinley to 7th win

Junior Courtney Schiffauer poured in 30 points to lead Boardman.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- The Boardman Spartans' girl basketball players all wear their nicknames on their pre-game T-shirts.
Courtney Schiffauer's nickname reads "Holy Schiff."
It's easy to see why.
The junior forward led a second-half Spartan rally by pouring in 30 points to lead Boardman (7-0, 2-0) past Federal League rival Canton McKinley 64-54 Saturday night at Boardman.
"This was a big win," said Boardman coach Ron Moschella. "It puts us in the driver's seat with Hoover in the Federal League."
Moschella had plenty of reason to be happy after watching his Spartans fall behind early in the contest with the Bulldogs.
Struggled early
Boardman trailed the Bulldogs by 13 points, 31-18, with 3:58 left in the second period and had Schiffauer and standout freshman Darryce Moore on the bench with three fouls each.
That's when Boardman began its sterling comeback.
"Girls like Lyndsie Hall, [Katie] Fiffick and [Makala] Gasparak kept us in the game and got the game back to six points with Shiff and Moore on the bench," Moschella said. "Once we got Shiff back in the second half -- game over."
It wasn't that easy but Schiffauer and Moore were nearly unstoppable in the second half.
Trailing 33-27 at the break, Boardman rallied to outscore McKinley 19-8 in the third period and finally grabbed the lead on a 3-point basket by Monica Touvelle with 3:20 left in the third period.
Touvelle hit two big 3-pointers in the period and scored nine points.
Never trailed again
Boardman never relinquished the lead after that as Schiffauer scored eight points in the period and 18 in the second half.
The junior forward was 7 of 8 from the floor in the final two periods.
The Spartans defense was also outstanding in leading the comeback as they forced McKinley (5-3, 0-2) into 10 turnovers in the period.
Moore also had a strong second half as she scored seven of her 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds all in the second half.
Hall was a force on the boards and with her defense.
The senior center grabbed five rebounds.
McKinley was led by Orlandrea Kirksey with 15 points while Porshe Poole added 13 and Bianca Hooten 9.