Spartans surge away from East for 12th victory

By John Kovach

BOARDMAN — Coach Ron Moschella of the Boardman High girls basketball team paid high tributes to the East squad and coach Tanisha Franklin after his Spartans broke open a close game late in the third quarter and surged away to a 63-47 victory over the Panthers Monday night.

“That was the hardest team we played, meaning how hard they played. They had us on the ropes for awhile. I give credit to East and their coach. She is an impressive coach,” said Moschella, whose Spartans pulled away from a modest 40-34 lead behind the 1-2 scoring punch from Darryce Moore and Doryion Glass, with help from Monica Touvelle and Kayleigh Lipke.

Moore and Glass each scored seven of Boardman’s final 23 points, while Lipke had four.

Moore finished with a game-high 25 points to lead Boardman (12-2), and she also dominated the boards with 12 rebounds and played outstanding defense with two blocked shots. Glass finished with 20 points and three assists.

Touvelle scored all of her 10 points in the third quarter with two 3-point goals and two foul shots.

Lipke played a strong overall game by also contributing six rebounds, three steals and three assists.

“We put [Glass] to a wing position and she became a slicer and we began taking the ball to the hoop. We made it a two-man game between Glass and Moore. Glass would penetrate to the hoop and then dish off the ball to Moore,” said Moschella.

And, “Monica Touvelle hit a couple of 3s that broke their back.”

Touvelle’s scoring helped the Spartans pull from a 33-23 halftime lead to a 46-34 command late in the third.

Glass made 10 of her points from the foul line and Moore five, while Boardman finished with 21-for-28 at the charity stripe. East was only 5-for-12.

Franklin said that East (9-6) had a tough time coping with Boardman’s defense and Moore’s height inside.

“I just thought that defensively they hurt us inside because every time we got a run they stopped us on the transition,” said Franklin.

“The tallest player we have is 5-9. They have a player 6-0 or 6-1 [Moore]. So height was a big factor.”

However, East managed to hold a 31-25 rebounding advantage.

But the Panthers committed 16 turnovers to Boardman’s 12.

Briana Dawson and Reshayla Taylor each scored 10 points to lead East, while Alex Hines and Bethany Hines each added eight with two 3-point goals apiece.

Dawson also had six rebounds, seven assists and four blocked shots, while Taylor added four steals.

Missy Oliver contributed seven points and six rebounds.

East battled Boardman to a 10-10 tie after the first quarter, and then took a 15-13 lead on Alex Hines’ 3-point goal.

But Boardman reeled off a 20-2 scoring advantage behind Moore and Glass to take the 10-point halftime lead.

Moore had nine of those 20 points and Glass eight, including the final six before half.

Moschella also lauded Lipke and three players from his bench — Missy DeMarinis, Amanda Volosin and Brooke Meenachan.

“Lipke was tough underneath,” said Moschella.

And, “We got some good help from the bench from DeMarinis and Volosin. We were able to get in some good rest [for the regulars]. And Meenachan made some big steals.”

Overall, “I was happy with our performance,” said the coach.

kovach@vindy.com