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Growing Cardinals go back to roots
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Salem Danielle Kruegel (20) gets blocked in by Canfield's Sara Shoemaker (23) and Jillian Halfhill (4)
By Joe Scalzo
Strong man-to-man defense helped Canfield shut down Salem 48-39 in a key AAC Red Tier showdown.
CANFIELD — At various points this season, Canfield junior Jillian Halfhill has been beaten up, bottled up and fed up.
But when asked about Wednesday’s 48-39 win over Salem, Halfhill perked up.
“I had fun tonight,” said Halfhill, who scored 17 points with three rebounds, three assists and three steals. “Those other games were a little frustrating, but tonight was fun.”
As one of two returning starters from last year’s regional final team, Halfhill knew she’d have to take on a bigger role this season as some of the younger and more experienced players went through growing pains. She’s been frustrated at times — a dislocated right thumb, a growth on her right hand and a bad hamstring certainly contributed to that — but the Cardinals on Wednesday started to show their potential.
“We grew tonight,” Halfhill said. “We grew a lot. At the beginning of the season, [the younger players] needed to figure things out and tonight I think they did.
“We came together and realized we all need to be one and everyone needs to contribute to win. We figured it out on the floor.”
Of course, it took about a quarter for that to happen. Salem’s two best players, junior Amy Scullion and senior Brittney Ritchie, dominated the first eight minutes, combining for 11 points as the Quakers took an 11-6 lead.
But Canfield started playing tough man-to-man defense and forced the 6-foot Scullion out of the paint. Over the second and third quarters, Canfield outscored Salem 28-13 to take control.
“We got back to our roots tonight,” said Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky. “We played hard, aggressive man-to-man defense and we really took them out of the game from the second quarter on.
“This is us now. This was our first league game and it was a huge win for us.”
Cally Wollet added eight points for the Cardinals (7-4, 1-0 All-American Conference Red Tier), while Rachael O’Hara added five points and three rebounds in just her second game back from a high ankle sprain that kept her out for a month. Kalie Luklan had five points, eight rebounds and three steals.
The Red Tier figures to come down to Canfield, Howland and Salem. The Cardinals and Quakers could also be matched up in the district final, so Monday’s game could be the first of a trilogy. Pavlansky has tried to schedule tough opponents to get his team ready, and the Cardinals are facing one seven-day stretch later this month in which they play Howland, Hathaway Brown and Salem.
“That’s a tough week for us,” said Pavlansky, “and it’s a big week for us.”
Scullion, a Division I volleyball prospect, finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and four assists, but she had to work a lot harder over the last three quarters. Ritchie added 11 points and five rebounds despite picking up her fourth foul early in the fourth quarter.
The Quakers (8-2, 0-1) played much better in the fourth, but the deficit was too big. The Quakers didn’t shoot particularly well — they made 16-of-46 from the field — and coach Jeff Andres thought they missed an opportunity to get out to a bigger lead in the first quarter.
“We’re a young team and we haven’t been in a dogfight until tonight,” said Salem coach Jeff Andres. “We haven’t been in this situation before.
“We’ve got a lot of young girls playing quality minutes, as they do as well, but we’ll definitely learn and get better from this.”
scalzo@vindy.com