16 area teams set for district

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
Over the past two decades, there haven't been too many instances when Ron Moschella's Boardman High girls basketball team has been an underdog in the Division I district tournament.
This week, the Spartans are not favorites, not with a potential rematch against North Canton Hoover (a squad that Canfield's Pat Pavlanksy feels is the best in Ohio) looming.
At the Division III tournament in Hanoverton will be Ursuline, winners of six straight district championships at United High.
Led by Penn State-bound Tyra Grant, the Irish are so strong that Springfield coach Sandi Kohler says they could play good with most of our area's Division III college teams.
For the 16 area girls teams still alive, tonight begins the difficult challenge of winning twice in three days to advance to regional play.
Most won't make it, but it will be fun to see who does.
Division I
Coming off last year's state trip, the Spartans (15-7) were seeded third at the Alliance High tournament. Ahead of them are Hoover (19-2) and Canton McKinley (16-5). So far this season, the Spartans are 0-3 against the Vikings and Bulldogs.
Today at 6 p.m., the Spartans and Bulldogs meet for the third time. McKinley won the first two contests -- 62-58 and 56-54. Both were played in Canton.
The winner will play either Hoover or Massillon Perry, a team the Vikings have outscored by 84 points in two Federal League games.
Should Boardman and Hoover advance, it would their seventh straight year of playing in the district tournament. Each team has won three games in that series.
In the regular season, Hoover defeated Boardman, 76-63, in North Canton.
The Vikings advanced by overcoming a sloppy start against Canfield, missing their first 12 shots in falling behind, 8-2.
But once guard Stephanie Gibson found her range, the Vikings rolled to a 43-29 victory.
"It's tough to win against a guard like Gibson when they have the lead," Pavlansky said. "She can handle the ball really well and she's extremely fast. It's extremely difficult to guard her."
Hoover coach Paul Wackerly declined to answer if he felt better knowing that his team has played its worst quarter of the year.
"You have to be able to play through [adversity]," Wackerly said. "Thank goodness we hunkered down [on defense] because we didn't have much offensively.
"We just weren't moving the ball and we were shooting too many threes in the first quarter. Then Gibson started hitting ..."
Division II
Five schools are alive in this division and since four of them are playing at Austintown Fitch High, at least three will be idle after Saturday.
Based on regular-season play, the Fitch district finale could be a Metro Athletic Conference showdown between Salem (16-5) and Howland (17-5).
Today, Salem plays Rayen (13-7), last year's regional semifinalist and Howland plays Liberty (14-7).
The Quakers lost to Rayen in last year's Division II district final at Fitch, but got a measure of revenge with a 57-52 win at Salem on Dec. 14. The Tigers were leading 52-42 with 2:41 left in the game before the Quakers finished with a 15-0 run.
"It was a tough loss," Rayen coach Taniesha Franklin said.
Salem lost junior Natalie Davidson to a left knee injury in the first quarter of Saturday's sectional final against Streetsboro. Davidson was driving for a layup when she landed awkwardly and had to be carried off the floor.
It wasn't the first time the Quakers have had injury problems. In the first game of the season against Fitch, senior Sarah Ravelli had to be rushed to the hospital. Then, in Salem's first game against Mooney on Jan. 12, sophomore Kasey Wolfgang had to get stitches in her eye.
Anything else?
"We've had a few practices where someone got hurt," sophomore Kelly Roelen said. "We're rough on each other."
In the regular season, Howland walloped Liberty, 51-31.
Should Salem and Howland advance, the regular season results offer little help in predicting a winner. At Howland, the Quakers won, 44-42. At Salem, the Tigers won, 35-31.
The other team still alive in this division is Lakeview (17-5), an unseeded team at the Ashtabula Edgewood tournament.
Only one seed -- Jefferson -- has survived to the Edgewood district. Lakeview plays Mentor Lake Catholic today at 6 p.m.
Division III
Three seeds remain alive at the United tournament: Ursuline (17-4), Crestview (20-1) and Brookfield (17-4).
Crashing the district party is Springfield (14-8), which bounced fourth-seeded Rootstown in their tournament opener.
Today at 6 p.m., Ursuline plays Springfield, followed by Brookfield versus Crestview.
Over at Rootstown High, two local teams -- United (7-14) and Warren JFK (8-13) are alive after upsetting seeds.
United advanced by defeating fourth-seeded Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, 60-49, while Warren JFK bounced second-seeded Chagrin Falls, 52-47.
Today, United plays top-seeded Waterloo while Warren JFK plays unseeded Woodridge.
Division IV
Three of the four seeds are alive at the Hubbard High tournament: McDonald (21-1), Columbiana (18-3) and Mathews (17-4).
Lowellville (16-6) advanced by knocking off fourth-seeded Youngstown Christian.
Today at 6 p.m., Lowellville plays McDonald. Two weeks ago, the Rockets pinned the only loss on the Blue Devils in an Inter-County League showdown.
Columbiana and Mathews play in the other game.