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Boardman holds on to beat Canfield
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MOVING FORWARD: Boardman's Kayleigh Lipke pushes by Anokha Padubidri of Canfield during the first-half action of Saturday's game in Boardman. The Spartans defeated the Cardinals, 51-42.
By Joe Scalzo
The Spartans led 23-7 at halftime, but had to hold off the Cardinals in the second half for a 51-42 victory.
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MOVING FORWARD: Boardman's Kayleigh Lipke pushes by Anokha Padubidri of Canfield during the first-half action of Saturday's game in Boardman. The Spartans defeated the Cardinals, 51-42.
BOARDMAN — After a pretty competitive — which isn’t the same thing as saying pretty and competitive — game against Boardman, Canfield High girls basketball coach Pat Pavlansky couldn’t find much to complain about.
“They did OK, didn’t they?” he said of his team after a 51-42 loss to the host Spartans on Saturday. “How could I not be proud of them?
“They kept competing against the best team we played this year.”
Granted, the season is three games old, but after losing Division I players to graduation, both teams are forging identities as scrappy, defensive-minded squads.
With Courtney Schiffauer gone to Michigan State, the Spartans got solid contributions from senior Erin Brown (a first-year starter who had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double) and senior point guard Katie Fiffick (seven points, five rebounds and three assists).
“Erin Brown does all the little things,” said Spartans coach Ron Moschella, who also praised sophomores Brooke Meenachan and Kayleigh Lipke. “She’s obviously not very flashy, but she’s strong and she rebounds.
“And my point guard, Katie Fiffick, came to play tonight. She plays with guts and fire and she’s 5-foot-1, but she took on [junior Jillian] Halfhill and competed.”
The Spartans won the first half, holding the Cardinals to 3-for-26 shooting from the field while forcing six turnovers to grab a 23-7 lead at halftime. Canfield won the second half, pulling within six with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter before running out of gas after three starters fouled out.
“Pretty boring first half, huh?” Pavlansky said. “Three-for-26 from the field is not fun basketball.
“We have a lot of new players at new positions and all of sudden, we started playing much better.”
Halfhill, one of two returning starters from last year’s regional final team, was hindered by a bad right hamstring (she was visibly limping by the second quarter) but hung in, finishing with six points, three rebounds and three assists before fouling out. A Miami (Florida) coach even braved the weather to scout Halfhill.
“She’s a great player,” said Moschella, whose game plan centered around swarming Halfhill every time she had the ball. “I love watching her and Fiffick play against each other.”
Boardman’s best player, junior Darryce Moore, finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals despite getting double-teamed for much of the contest.
The Spartans (2-1) won the game at the foul line, hitting 21-of-31 compared to 8-of-15 for Canfield (1-2).
“We made them take a lot of shots from the perimeter and they missed a lot of them,” said Moschella. “Honestly, I think that was a little bit of us and a little bit of luck.”
scalzo@vindy.com