Howland edges Cards to complete 20-0 season

By Paul Trgovac

The Tigers won, 57-51, giving coach John Diehl his first unbeaten regular season in a long career.

HOWLAND — Even though they had clinched the regular season title in the Red Division of the All American Conference the Howland girls basketball team had one more step to finish off a perfect regular season, the always tough Canfield Cardinals.

In their first meeting at the Chevy Centre, Howland edged the Cardinal by two points and the second meeting was like the first, with the Tigers winning 57-51, to finish 20-0 overall and 8-0 in the AAC.

Canfield ended the regular season with an overall record of 12-8, including a 5-3 mark in the conference.

“What a great night.” stated Howland coach John Diehl. “I have done everything in coaching, went to Columbus [the state tournament], the regionals, won districts and league titles, but this if the first 20-0 season for me, ever.

“This happened because there is no selfishness on this team.”

A different Howland hero came to the front in each quarter. After a slow start that saw neither team hit a field goal for the first four minutes, Kelly Barzak scored six points to lead the Tigers to a 12-10 lead after the first period.

“Some girls really stepped it up for us tonight.” added Diehl. “Abby [Nicholas], Megan [Long], Erica [Niles] and Kelly [Barzak] all took turns, which is the sign of a good team.”

Canfield took the lead with a 7-0 run to start the second stanza. A basket by Kaitlin Kaleel, followed by a 3-point basket and a layup off of two Howland turnovers, gave the Cardinals a 17-12 lead.

Niles scored nine points for Howland and after five ties and six lead changes in the quarter Howland led 28-26 at the break.

Both teams tightened their defense in the third quarter, but Nicholas hit two 3-point baskets and a 2-point jumper in the final minute of play to give the Tigers a 45-35 advantage entering the final quarter.

The Cardinals scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and trailed by no more than six points until the final minute of the contest. With Howland ahead 53-47, Julian Halfill hit a 3-point shot and was fouled on the play with 35.7 seconds to go in the game. Halfill hit the free throw to cut Howland’s lead to just two points, 53-51.

Canfield then stole the ball and Halfill tried to tie the score on a drive to the basket but was unable to hit the shot. Barzak rebounded the miss and was fouled. She then made both free throws, and added two more in the last 16 seconds for the final margin.

“We had a great regular season, even with eight losses, when you look at how young a team we were to the roles they had to play,” said Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky. “We had a chance to win the game with 20 seconds to go. If we can play with this kind of effort, we will be a tough out in the tournament. We didn’t have a timeout down the stretch which forced the girls to communicate themselves and they did a great job of that.”

Barzak led Howland with 19 points while Niles added 12 and Nicholas 10. Taylor Williams had eight of the Tigers’ 35 rebounds, while Megan Long had five assists. Halfill finished with a game high 21 points for Canfield and added three assists. Cally Wollet added 10 points while Anokha Padubidri pulled down 12 of the Cardinals’ 21 rebounds. Howland suffered 21 turnovers to 11 for Canfield.