Boardman comes up big down the stretch

Division I recruits Darryce Moore and Monica Touvelle keyed the Spartans past Canfield, 55-47.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

Vindicator correspondent

CANFIELD — The intensity level was at an all-time high right from the opening tip of Wednesday’s Boardman-Canfield girls basketball game.

With three Division I recruits on the floor and possibly a fourth if not for an injury the previous three seasons, the talent level matched the intensity and made for one of the top matchups in the area this season.

Boardman (5-1) regrouped from a foul-plagued first half and fought off several challenges by Canfield before pulling away to a 55-47 non-conference win at Canfield.

“It was a great basketball game,” said Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky.

The Spartans featured Monica Touvelle (YSU), Darryce Moore (Ohio State) and Dorian Glass, the daughter of former YSU standout Dorothy Bowers while Canfield was led by Jillian Halfhill (Bowling Green).

Moore tallied 16 points and had 12 rebounds while Touvelle added 15 points including nine in the second half. Glass ran the offense for the Spartans and played solid defense from her guard position.

Halfhill was at her best, scoring 18 points to lead the Cards.

“Canfield played really well,” said Boardman coach Ron Moschella. “We had to overcome a lot of foul trouble but we were able to regroup and came through.

“Both teams made a lot of great plays. Fortunately we made a few more.”

The biggest plays were made by the Spartans when it counted down the stretch.

When Halfhill nearly single-handedly brought her team back from a 38-31 third quarter deficit by scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter, Boardman responded with a vengeance.

After Halfhill drilled a 3-pointer to give Canfield a 39-38 lead, Touvelle responded with a 3-point basket of her own to get Boardman the lead back at 41-39.

The Spartans then relied on its huge height advantage with Moore, Kayleigh Lipke and Brooke Meenachan to regain momentum.

Lipke scored the next five points while Moore made a free throw and a basket in between a 3-point basket by Canfield’s Cally Wollet to push Boardman’s lead to 49-41.

Meenachan then knocked in a 3-point basket from the corner to all but ice the game at 52-42.

“We hit some key shots when we needed to,” said Touvelle. “We knew things didn’t go our way in the first half and we needed to play better.

“We came out in the second half working the ball inside to Moore and that opened things up for us to get our outside shooting going.”

Moschella gave a lot of credit to several of his players that came off the bench including Missy DeMarinis, who guarded Halfhill for much of the first half. Amanda Volosin also played well off the bench scoring four points.

Canfield (2-4) battled the Spartans evenly in the first half with great defense and by getting to the foul line.

At halftime, Canfield led the Spartans 23-22.

“I’m so proud of our effort,” said Pavlansky. “Were a different ball club than the one that lost to McKinley a month ago.

“We are a lot better now than we were then and I’m confident that we are going to be even better a month from now.”

Canfield got a great team effort on defense and worked offensively off the talents of Halfhill.

Wollet chipped in with all 10 of her points in the second half while Kaitlin Kaleel added seven points.

Kendal Malsch battled the much bigger Spartan inside players to grab a team-high nine rebounds.