Tigers fail to penetrate Lake defense

Howland was ousted by Mentor Lake Catholic in a regional semifinal.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BARBERTON -- The Howland High girls basketball team couldn't handle the pressure put on by Mentor Lake Catholic Tuesday night, and the Tigers bowed out of the Division II regional tournament, 52-38.
Lake Catholic came out with full-court pressure in the second half and the Tigers were outscored 19-10. Howland never got back into the contest.
The semifinal loss ended the Tigers' season at 20-5, fourth-best in the school's history, while Lake Catholic improves to 15-10 and will meet Bay Village Friday for the regional championship.
Bay Village defeated Minerva 54-53 in the first game on Tuesday.
"We just couldn't handle the pressure tonight," Howland coach John Diehl said. "And because of that, we never were able to get the ball into our posts.
"It didn't matter which offense we used, nothing worked tonight," Diehl said. "Their pressure was better than we thought it was.
"Toward the end, Carly [Sabat] was probably the most effective in getting the ball up the floor," Diehl said. "Maybe we should have used her earlier."
Pleased with season
Still, Diehl was very pleased with his team's season.
"You can't be unhappy about the fourth-best record in school history," Diehl said. "Especially when you have four of your five starters returning."
After trailing 18-12 at intermission, the Tigers found the Cougars ready to jump on them quickly.
Lake Catholic scored the first eight points of the third quarter and took command 26-12.
After Howland cut the lead to 26-18, the Cougars pulled to a 37-22 lead, including a half-court, 3-point shot by Paige Howard at the buzzer.
Howland made a brief comeback in the final quarter getting to within nine points twice, but the Cougars would let them get no closer.
Shields has double-double
Ellie Shields was the only Tiger in double figures and she finished with a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Howland outrebounded the Cougars, 33-26, but the Tigers also committed 21 turnovers to 14 for the Cougars.
Courtney Schuster led the Cougars with 12 points while Howard finished with 11. Jill Mohr had nine rebounds for the Cougars.
Lake Catholic shot 44.4 percent for the game, hitting on 20 of 45 shots, while Howland was 16 of 41 for 39 percent.
The Tigers allowed the game's opening basket, a 3-point shot by Dana Radley, but then scored the next six points to take a 6-3 lead.
Hampered by turnovers
The Cougars went cold after that first basket, missing their next six shots from the field, but Howland couldn't take advantage with five straight turnovers as the two teams ended deadlocked at 7-7 after the first quarter.
Howland scored first to open the second quarter as Alexa Williams canned a layup, but Radley drilled another 3-pointer and the Cougers were up 10-9.
Howland held its last lead of the first half with 4:39 remaining on a jump shot by Melissa Airhart, before Schuster took over and scored six of the Cougars last eight points giving Lake Catholic an 18-12 lead at intermission.
The Cougars had 26 shots to Howland's 11 in the first half, while the Tigers out-rebounded the Cougars 14-11.
mollica@vindy.com