Can’t Take Any Moore

By Tom Williams

Hoover had no answer for center

BOARDMAN — In the first quarter of Saturday’s showdown with rival North Canton Hoover, the Boardman High girls basketball team was the definition of charitable, giving the ball away 11 times.

But by the second half, the Spartans treated the ball the way a 4-year-old clutches a favorite toy from a sibling, posting a 15-0 run to seize control of the Federal League contest.

The smaller Vikings had no answer for Spartans’ junior post player Darryce Moore as she scored 23 of her 29 points after the intermission in a 61-52 victory.

“Once we got ‘Reece’ where she is supposed to go, we were fine,” Boardman coach Ron Moschella said. “They couldn’t handle ‘Reece.’ ”

In the third quarter, Moore scored 10 points and made two steals as the Spartans wiped out a 34-25 deficit. She was just warming up.

In the final frame, Moore had three baskets, seven free throws, four rebounds and a block.

Her inspiration? The opponent and her first-half struggles (six points, three fouls).

“Since Hoover is our big rival, it’s [always] an exciting game,” Moore said. “I just got angry with how they were calling fouls, my fouls.”

Boardman’s fortunes shifted in the third quarter when Moschella changed strategy.

“Defensively, we went 2-2-1 and we went after them,” Moschella said of the pressure that crumpled the Vikings (5-10, 2-3). “That rattled them. Katie Fiffick and [Emily] Abraham and Samara [Sutton] got after them.

“Our big people played [well], ‘Reece’ got a couple of steals,” Moschella said. “I was pretty happy at the end.”

But at the beginning, not so much.

The Spartans (10-4, 4-1) fell behind 9-2 as the Vikings opened with three 3-pointers by Sarah Wechter, Lindsay Fiala, Ally Peare. Only missing two shots in the quarter, Boardman cut the gap to 15-9 when Moschella was assessed a technical late in the quarter.

As difficult as rallying against Hoover was, Fiffick said her coach struggling to remain seated the rest of the game had to be tougher.

“I think it was hard having him sit there, not stand up with everything,” Fiffick said. “But we knew because he was sitting there that we had to pick it up on the court because he wasn’t screaming as much or running back and forth on the sidelines.

“That maybe motivated us a little bit.”

Moschella said giveaways and slow starts in the second half have been challenges.

“Our nemesis is turnovers and we’ve got to overcome that,” Moschella said. “And I know that Hoover gets after you.

“They had all little kids flying at the ball ... and that’s good for us,” Moschella said. “Obviously, they are undersized but they play hard.

“We’ve had some problems in the third quarter. This one couldn’t have been any better,” Moschella said. “That’s what we’ve been looking for.”

Last year, the Vikings beat the Spartans in the regular season and the Federal League championship game. But in the Division I district semifinals, the Spartans beat Hoover as a springboard to the state semifinals.

Moore admitted she was caught offguard.

“When they announced the [Hoover] record, I thought ‘Wow, this team must not be that good,’ ” Moore said. “But we were down by nine at halftime and it was ‘Wow, they are pretty good.’ ”

The Spartans’ Monica Touvelle scored 13 points before fouling out late in the game.

Jessica Carpenter and Peare led the Vikings with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

williams@vindy.com