Mangapora, Wollet lead Canfield girls past rival

The Cardinals evened their record at 6-6 by defeating AAC rival Poland.

By JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

CANFIELD — The Canfield High girls basketball team continues to improve with every game that it plays.

The Cardinals demonstrated that progress Saturday against rival Poland in their first meeting of the season.

Canfield held the Bulldogs to only eight points in the first half and then, after a slow offensive start, the Cardinals roared to a 59-27 victory in an All-American Conference Red Tier game.

“We hung in there and we really have improved the past couple of weeks. We played against some tough teams and that made us a lot better,” said coach Pat Pavlansky of Canfield (6-6, 2-1 AAC Red), whose Cardinals broke from a narrow 10-6 lead in the opening quarter to a 27-8 halftime advantage.

“We didn’t start real well but we held them to eight points in the first half.”

Sabrina Mangapora, a promising 6-foot freshman, scored 15 points and Cally Wollet, a 5-8 junior, tacked on 12 points, including four 3-point goals, to spearhead a well-balanced Canfield attack in which 10 players scored.

Mangapora scored eight of her points in the second quarter to power the Cardinals to their 19-point lead at intermission.

Then Wollet hit her final two 3-point goals in the third quarter to help Canfield take its 45-18 advantage into the final period.

Jillian Halfhill added seven points while Kendal Malsch and freshman Allison Pavlansky contributed five apiece.

Even when Canfield substituted, they didn’t lose too much spark, and dominated the second half, 32-19.

“We have a lot of players that can play,” said Pavlansky and, ”They all played well.”

Abby Brenoel’s six points were the best that Poland (8-5, 1-2) could muster, while Lauren Tadla, Alyssa Shields and Maura Bobby added five each.

“Our defense was the key and then we started hitting some baskets,” said Pavlansky. “Our pressure caused a lot of turnovers.

kovach@vindy.com