YCS gets victory in tourney opener

The Eagles turned back Mathews 58-41 in a Division IV sectional.

By DOUG CHAPIN

Vindicator correspondent

HUBBARD — Despite a 7-13 regular season, including a loss to Mathews High, Tony LaGamba, coach of the Youngstown Christian High girls basketball team, was confident his team could play with the third-seeded Mustangs come tournament time.

With three players scoring in double figures the Eagles posted a 58-41 victory over Mathews on Saturday, the first day of the Division IV sectional-district at Hubbard.

Youngstown Christian will play Crestview on Thursday in a sectional final. The Rebels defeated Leetonia, 45-30, on Saturday. Wellsville also won Saturday, 62-30 over Ashtabula SS. John & Paul, and will face second-seeded McDonald on Thursday.

“We played Mathews hard at their place and they beat us by seven [45-38], but we thought we could make some adjustments and make a run at them,” LaGamba said.

The Eagles led 18-12 after one quarter and opened the advantage to 30-18 before Mathews closed within 30-25 at halftime.

Youngstown Christian, with its superior size, quickness and athleticism, threatened to blow open the game in the second half, but Mathews (11-10) hung tough. The Mustangs trailed 36-30 midway through period three and were within 43-33 with about a minute to play in the quarter.

The Eagles put together a 7-2 run in the final minute of the quarter and took a 50-35 lead into the final eight minutes. Mathews never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

“We have athletes that can run the floor and our job is to push the ball as hard as we can,” LaGamba said about the Eagles’ athletic style of play. “We utilize the quickness and speed that the girls demonstrate on the floor. Once in a while — we’re young — we get out of kilter and out of character, but when we play controlled basketball we can compete.”

Kristi Cooper led the Eagles’ attack with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Sara Bell had 16 points and four steals, Shanell Harris added 11 points and Rashida Strozier dished out five assists.

Emily Culp led Mathews with 13 points and Rachel Roscoe added eight points and six rebounds.

Youngstown Christian’s schedule included Fitch, Chaney, East Liverpool, Mooney, Campbell and United, partly accounting for the sub-.500 record.

“When you’re running against athletes like Chaney, Campbell, Mooney, United, those good basketball teams, when you’re competing at that level, you can hang in there with Division IV schools as well,” LaGamba said.

“Sometimes teams got us out of our tempo and we turned the ball over too much, and sometimes we didn’t control the boards on both ends, that’s one of the things that really hurt us. And when it came down to close games we didn’t shoot the ball from the free throw line very well. Those are the things that we’re working on.”

With Saturday’s victory, the Eagles will have another few days at least to continue that work.