Canfield cruises; Fitch eliminated

The Cardinals routed Harding 74-35, while Jackson beat the Falcons 54-42.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
ALLIANCE -- The Canfield High girls basketball team got a warm up before taking on top seeded North Canton Hoover Saturday.
The Cardinals jumped on Warren Harding early and never let up, posting a 74-35 victory at the Division I district tournament Monday night.
In the other game Monday, Massillon Jackson eliminated Austintown Fitch, 54-42.
Cardinals dominate
Canfield (16-5) jumped out to a 28-8 first quarter lead against Harding and the score never got closer the rest of the way.
The Cardinals will now have their work cut out as they must take on top-seeded North Canton Hoover (18-2) in the sectional final Saturday at 2:30 p.m. here.
"Any time you get a tournament win it's a good win," said Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky. "I've said all along that North Canton Hoover is the best Division I team in the state and to get out of this district you will have to go through them.
"A lot of people were surprised when I placed us in the bracket opposite them, but I knew we'd have to play them to get out of here and it is always exciting to go up against the best there is," he said.
"Give Len Redmond and Harding a lot of credit, they are much improved since the last time we played them," Pavlansky said.
Redmond lauded the Cardinals.
"Their experience made the difference, they have, I don't know for sure, but at least 10 or 12 players that have been in the district tournament, we have two," Redmond said.
"Even when we were playing pretty good early on, they just shot the lights out and there wasn't much we could do," he added.
Halfhill leads way
The Cardinals, who had 11 players reach the scoring column, were led by Bryanne Halfhill with 19 points, while Kate Popovec added 17 and the starters played just over half the game.
Harding (4-16) had only one player in double figures, Kayla Sparks with 10 points.
The Cardinals were hot to open the contest hitting on eight of their first 12 shots from the field and quickly pulled out to a 17-6 lead.
Canfield dominated both boards and ended up taking 74 shots from the field to just 34 for the Raiders. Harding finished 15-of-34, while the Cardinals were 30-of-74.
The Cardinals outscored the Raiders 47-14 in the first half and its biggest lead was 64-25 early in the fourth quarter.
Falcons never led
In the opening contest Fitch (7-14) never led against the Polar Bears, falling behind 15-5 in the opening period.
Jackson's Taylor Hartung was the big thorn in the Falcons side as she led all scorers with 24 points, 11 of them in the opening period. She had four 3-point goals on the night.
"Hartung is a great player and we knew that we had to stop her to have a chance and we didn't do that," said Fitch head coach John Hudson.
"I was pleased the way we battled back, but we just didn't finish the game," he added.
"I felt bad for the girls because they have come a long way this season," Hudson said. "But they were ready for us."
Alexis Hall led the Falcons with 12 points, while Krista Mayes added 11.
Jackson (11-10) had two other players in double figures including Kyle Baumgartner with 14 and Laura Schmidt with 10.
Fitch cuts into lead
Fitch cut the Polar Bears' lead to seven points 25-18 at the intermission and were still in the contest after three quarters, 36-28.
But Jackson scored the final eight points of the contest to end the Falcons season.
Jackson will now take on the tournament's No. 4 seed, Perry, Saturday at 1 p.m.
mollica@vindy.com