Boardman bows to Canton McKinley

By Ryan Jones

ALLIANCE — Boardman High girls basketball coach Ron Moschella’s Spartans had Canton McKinley playing the Spartans brand of basketball — a controlled half court game where every possession is critical.

However, Boardman’s poor performance at the foul line (4-of-14) coupled with 23 turnovers prevented the Spartans from completing their comeback bid against Canton McKinley in a Saturday’s Division I district final at Alliance High.

Boardman (16-8) fell 42-36 to the Bulldogs.

“I thought we ran our pace and we played our style of basketball,” Moschella said. “McKinley didn’t want the game to be at this pace or score, but we missed a lot of lay-ups and foul shots. You can’t shoot 4 of 14 at the foul line and win a basketball game.”

The victory gave McKinley (21-3) its first district title in more than a decade. The Bulldogs will face Twinsburg on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. in a regional semifinal contest at Canton Memorial Civic Center.

McKinley coach Pam Davis said having faced Boardman in Federal League play her team knew the game was going to be intense.

“We’ve matched up the past three years in this district,” Davis said. “We are developing a bit of a rivalry with Boardman.

“Our four seniors worked very hard for this; it’s really special moment,” Davis said. “We’ve been trying to put McKinley back on the basketball map.”

Even though the Spartans were hampered by 23 turnovers, Moschella said he thought his back court did a good job of handling the Bulldogs’ pressure.

“They smother you deny the ball all over the place,” Moschella said. “It might not have looked like we always had control — and they caught us in some five second calls — but we didn’t want any forced passes that ended up as lay-ups at the other end.”

McKinley held its largest lead, 36-22, with about six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. That’s when Boardman went with some 2-2-1 pressure defense, forced the Bulldogs into seven turnovers and got back in the game.

A 3-pointer from Emily Abraham, a 16-foot jumper from Erin Brown and a rebound put back from Darryce Moore cut the lead to 36-29 with 4:17 left.

Abraham finished off the 9-0 run with a driving lay up that brought Boardman to within five points, 36-31.

“McKinley didn’t handle our pressure very well—they traveled and threw the ball away,” Moschella said. “I was proud that we were able to come back and cut the lead to five.”

Boardman wouldn’t come any closer as the Bulldogs went on a 5-0 run over the next two minutes that pushed the lead to 41-31.

Abraham led Boardman with 13 points, while Moore totaled nine points and nine rebounds. Katie Fiffick had three assists. The Spartans shot 14-of-32 from the field and 4-of-9 from behind the arc.

Laneisha Lennon scored 14 points and Ameryst Alston added 12 for the Bulldogs who shot 17-of-40 for the contest.

Moschella said it was a pleasure to coach this senior class.

“Rebecca Bartlett and Courtney Gratz didn’t play much this season, but they wanted to be a part of this team,” moschella said. “The work they put in gave the rest of the team something to admire and respect.

“Katie [Fiffick], Emily [Abraham], Samara [Sutton] and Erin Brown played well today and we’ll miss them.”

Boardman trailed 7-3 after the first quarter, and 17-12 at intermission as the Bulldogs forced the Spartans into 13 first half miscues.