Canfield stays tied for AAC lead

CANFIELD – It took nearly 16 games, but Canfield High coach Pat Pavlansky feels like his team is coming together.

That could only spell trouble for the rest of the All American Conference.

Jillian Halfhill scored 16 points, Kendal Malsch added 11 and Cally Wollet connected on three timely buckets from beyond the arc as the Cardinals defeated Salem, 53-40, in an AAC Red Tier game Saturday at the Canfield Gymnasium.

Canfield (9-7, 5-1) remained tied with Howland atop the league standings.

“It’s a situation where we have so many young players that are finally coming into their own,” said Pavlansky. “It’s taken a while to get our sea legs, so to speak for we have endured some rough times and rough waters this season, but we’re becoming the mariners that I thought we could be.”

Two 3-pointers from Halfhill and Wollet keyed a 9-2 Canfield run to start the game, but the Quakers, with senior Amy Scullion scoring 11 of her game-high 28 points in the opening period, closed the quarter on a 15-0 run to take a 17-9 lead.

Halfhill scored seven of the Cardinals’ 11 points in the second stanza, while the Canfield defense held Scullion to just a basket and two free throws as the hosts the Quakers lead to 23-20 at the intermission.

“We all said before the game even started that beating Howland this past Wednesday would mean nothing if we didn’t win tonight,” said Halfhill. “We struggled at times, missing some easy buckets and while Amy [Scullion] had another great night, we were able to stop the others and that was a big key for us.

“When Amy drives the lane, there’s really no stopping her,” Halfhill said.

Two buckets by Malsch keyed a 10-2 Cardinal run to start the second half as Canfield forged a 32-25 margin, settling for a 36-30 lead heading to the final period.

The Cardinals increased their lead to 40-30 on a bucket by Sabrina Mangapora with 5:19 remaining, but Scullion netted the next six points on two buckets and two free throws to cut the margin to 42-38 with 2:20 remaining.

Two free throws by Mangapora and another bucket by Scullion then made it 44-40 in favor of the Cardinals.

Coming out of a timeout and with 1:26 remaining, Wollet stuck the nail in the Quakers’ coffin by hitting a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Cardinals a 47-40 advantage.

“The team said that I should shoot the ball if I had an open shot and it was just the perfect shot at the perfect time,” said Wollet.

“After the Howland game we kicked everything up a notch. We realize exactly what we want and what it will take to achieve that goal.

“It feels good to be able to sweep the season series against Salem. They’re an excellent team but we realize that we could not have done it without an overall team effort,” Wollet said.

The game’s key statistic came in the second half as the Cardinals had 26 possessions after intermission, resulting in 33 points.

“We just didn’t play good enough to win tonight,” said Salem coach Jeff Andres. “We were careless with the ball, a nemesis of ours as we shot ourselves in the foot way too many times.

“Basketball is a game of runs and they had a couple more than we did tonight. They also hit some timely 3-point buckets as well,” Andres said.

Canfield has won two straight and four of its last five games.