Girls regional teams have big dreams

By Joe Scalzo

“I don’t want the season to end. Usually at this time of year I’m tired, but the finality is going to be bad.”

Tony Matisi

Lowellville coach

Lowellville High girls basketball coach Tony Matisi spent Sunday working the phones, getting a scouting report on Berlin Hiland from some of its opposing coaches.

“I talked to four guys and two of them said you can’t play zone against them and the other two said you can’t play man,” said Matisi, whose Rockets (20-4) won their third district title in six years. “I don’t know what to do.

“The more information I get, the less I want to play.”

Lowellville, one of three area girls teams still alive, will meet No. 2-ranked Hiland (23-1) in a Division IV regional semifinal at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Massillon Perry.

In Div. II, Canfield (16-8) will play No. 9 Canton South (23-1) at 8 tonight in Barberton, while United (22-1) will meet No. 3 Smithville (24-0) at Cuyahoga Falls at 8 p.m. Wednesday in a Div. III matchup.

Lowellville starts three freshman and enter the game as huge underdogs, but Matisi believes both things could be an advantage.

“I don’t think they have any idea what they’re doing,” said Matisi of his team, which won the Inter Tri-County League Tier Two title. “I’m counting on that for one more week.”

Hiland’s depth and defensive pressure have given opponents fits this winter and Matisi is spending this week working on a press-breaker, bringing in the boys basketball team (which includes his son) to practice to give the Rockets a feel for what’s ahead.

Matisi starts four guards — a good thing against a team like Hiland — and has four starters who average between 10.5 and 11.5 points per game.

“I’m surprised we’re here,” he admitted. “I knew we had good kids but things have really come together over the last month and a half. Watching them get better and better has been so much fun.

“I don’t want the season to end. Usually at this time of year I’m tired, but the finality is going to be bad.”

Lowellville only has one senior on the roster, so this experience should pay dividends over the next few years.

“We wanted to get here so bad just for that fact,” he said. “But we’re not backing down. They don’t know any better.”

Canfield, which fell to Hathaway Brown in last year’s regional final, returned four contributors from that team, including starters Jillian Halfhill (a junior guard who has already verbally committed to Bowling Green) and senior forward Anokha Padubidri (whose talent, motor and athleticism are huge assets, and her tendency to get into foul trouble is not).

“We’re gonna be a lot smaller, but that’s OK,” said Pavlansky. “We’re in the final 16 for a reason and so are they, so we’re just gonna go ahead and play and try to do the things we need to do.”

Since the first weeks of the season, Pavlansky has been telling anyone who would listen how much this team reminds him of the one that made it to the Div. II state final in 2000.

“I just said to Jillian in practice, ‘We’re getting better, we’re not just here putting time in,’ ” said Pavlansky, who noted that six of his players were in the gym at 7:30 a.m. on Monday practicing free throws. “I love this team. I absolutely love this team. They’re so much fun.”

United, winners of the ITCL Tier One crown, rallied to beat Ursuline in the district final and are also underdogs. But they come into the game with a lot of momentum and confidence. The Eagles’ lone loss came on Jan. 5 against Lisbon.

“That kinda got us going because we worked 10 times harder in practice,” said senior Maggie Sell of the loss. “This means everything to us. I don’t think we thought that we would be able to come this far this year coming off a 15-7 season.

“It’s pretty awesome.”

XVindicator sports writer Tom Williams contributed to this report.