Massillon rallies from 10 down to oust Canfield, 51-46

By Jon Moffett

ALLIANCE — Not even a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter was enough for the Canfield High girls basketball team to put the final nail in Massillon Washington High’s coffin.

Instead, the Tigers refused to stay down and rallied back to defeat the Cardinals 51-46 in the first round of the Division I tournament Monday at Alliance High.

One setback for the Cardinals came before either team set foot on the court.

Jillian Halfhill, a Canfield senior and the team’s leading scorer, said she dislocated the thumb on her shooting hand at Sunday’s practice, and had a brace on her right hand in the early part of the game.

Halfhill scored only four points, all of which came off of free throws. She went 6-8 from the line.

After the game, a teary-eyed Halfhill was consoled by friends, family and teammates. She said was disappointed with her performance, injury or not.

“It screwed me up a little bit, but I shouldn’t have played as badly as I did,” Halfhill said.

Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky acknowledged Halfhill’s injury, but would not comment on how it affected her play.

“No excuses,” he said smiling.

The Cardinals (13-8) were ahead 46-36 with about four minutes to play, but could not hang on to a lead they had for most of the game.

The Cardinals’ largest lead was 12 midway through the third quarter.

“There’s no excuses on our part, they played better tonight than we did,” Pavlansky said. “They made the plays and we didn’t make the plays.”

Canfield took a 24-19 lead into halftime and scored 15 more in the third, including a 7-0 run to start the period.

But a strong fourth quarter by the Tigers (18-3) chipped away at the lead, and a clutch 3-point goal by senior Cayla Seidler gave Massillon the lead for good.

Standing all alone in the far corner of Harry Fails Gymnasium, Seidler received a pass and swished the shot, giving Massillon a 47-46 lead and stealing all the momentum.

“When it was going up, what was going through my head was ‘no one is on me, I better make this,’” Seidler said. “And when it went in, I was pretty excited. And then when I turned to my teammates and saw them all with smiles on their faces, it made me feel 10 times better.”

The shot, which came with 1:26 left in the game, all but wrote the end for Canfield’s tournament run.

Massillon coach Mark Green said the win hopefully sent a message to the teams remaining in the tournament, like Canton GlenOak, who the Tigers will play on Thursday.

“This was a big win, and it was kind of a win for respect,” he said. “We were the fourth seed, and the fifth seed jumps us and our kids kind of took it personally.”

Pavlansky credited Green and his team, saying they didn’t panic despite being down late and made the critical plays when needed.

“They played awesome,” he said. “What are you going to say? They played super and we didn’t play as well as you need to play to win the game.”

Seidler’s 21 points led the game, and 15 of her points came from beyond the arc.

Matching Seidler almost shot-for-shot was Canfield junior Cally Wollet.

Wollet had a team-high 16 points, 12 of which also came off the deep ball. But the difference came with Seidler’s final shot, which put the Tigers up 51-46 as time expired.

Halfhill, who will attend Bowling Green University in the fall, said she will look back on fond memories of a career which included a 62-54 victory over rival Boardman on Feb. 18.

“This team came together like no one thought we could, and we did, and tonight we should’ve won,” she said. “The win over Boardman was awesome and I’m going to remember that for a while; for the rest of my life.”

Pavlansky said the end of the road this season doesn’t mean an end to how proud he is of his team. He said the team accomplished more than it’s given credit for.

“In the middle of the season, we’re 4-6 and won nine of the next 10 against some really, really good teams,” he said. “So to say it was a terrible season is totally wrong.

“They came together better than any team I’ve had in a long time. They really did a great job this last month and a half and I’m really proud of them. It just didn’t go our way tonight.”

jmoffett@vindy.com