Howland continues undefeated

By Chuck Housteau

Kelly Barzak and Taylor Williams led the Tigers to a 59-50 win over Mooney.

HOWLAND — The Howland High girls basketball team’s game plan was simple.

The Tigers pounded the ball inside early and often to six-foot forwards Kelly Barzak and freshman Taylor Williams and turned back Mooney 59-50 Monday in a non-conference game at Howland.

“There was no rocket science there,” said Mooney coach Jack Bermann of the Howland game plan. “I would have done the same thing if I had players six-foot-one.”

Walking by Bermann, Howland (5-0) coach John Diehl joked, “That’s what coaching is for.”

Barzak scored 22 points while Williams added 13 as the Tigers pulled away to an easy victory in the second half.

Howland’s other inside threat, Megan Long, chipped in with six points.

“We were definitely much taller than them so we wanted to get the ball inside,” Diehl said. “I thought at halftime we were trying to run too much with them so I told our girls to slow it down, get it into the post, and Barzak really responded to that.”

Barzak scored nine points in the third quarter as Howland turned a tight 27-21 halftime lead into a 47-34 lead by the end of the period.

“We’re either going to score inside or from the outside,” Barzak said about the Tigers’ style of play. “Tonight, we decided to go inside and the guards made some great passes to get us the ball in the paint for easy baskets.

“When they’re playing us man [defense], we’re mostly going to go inside.”

Mooney (1-4) had some success in the first half by playing pressure defense and making the Tigers run with them in transition.

The Cardinals got strong efforts from Dominique Zordich, Jessica Farragher and Katie Griswold as Mooney kept pace with Howland in the first 16 minutes.

Zordich finished with a team-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“We have to play defense to have a chance,” Bermann said. “When we played defense tonight we did okay. At other times they were able to exploit us.

“We’re going to be okay, though,” Bermann said. “I think we are getting better. We just have to find players that believe we have to play 32 minutes on defense every game.”

Howland kept the Cardinals at bay in the first half by getting to the foul line 21 times.

The Tigers made only 12 but it was enough to stave off any Mooney threat.

“We’re a much better foul shooting team than that,” Diehl said. “We gave the girls a day off [Sunday] so maybe that had something to do with our performance at the line.”

Mooney tried to make a run with some defense in the fourth quarter after Howland opened up its lead to 15 points.

The Cardinals chipped away but could get no closer than the final margin of nine points on a late basket by Vickie Farris.