Clark’s boost puts Massillon over Fitch

February 23, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

ALLIANCE

Austintown Fitch’s game plan was to contain Massillon’s two leading scorers in their Division I sectional basketball tournament game on Tuesday night.

The Tigers, though, got an unexpected scoring boost to rally past Fitch, 38-36, at Alliance High.

The Falcons’ challenge was to keep Nae Nae McElroy and Chandler Burch in check. McElroy and Burch averaged a combined 30 points per game this season for the Tigers.

“[Fitch] kind of made it ugly,” said Massillon coach Mark Green. “They came out in a freaky defense, a triangle-and-two, on McElroy and Chandler.”

The Falcons were able to hold the scoring leaders to just 2-for-17 shooting for the game, and a combined seven points.

“I’m really happy with our performance in that regard,” said Fitch coach Stacie Cepin.

The Falcons also needed to know where Massillon’s Katie Clark was, though. She scored a team-high 11 points, all in the second half, to lead the Tigers’ comeback.

“In a normal situation, I would be very happy with that because Katie Clark can really shoot the basketball,” said Green.

Clark didn’t score in the first half, but was offered a little advice from her coach.

“We told her, you’re five foot tall. If you are going to help us, you need to shoot the ball,” Green said.

Fitch got off to a quick start and held a 20-17 lead at halftime. Most of the Falcons scoring came from freshman Megan Sefcik, who had 10 points at the half.

The Tigers wanted to stop Sefcik from touching the ball after the intermission, and they accomplished that goal. Sefcik scored just two points in the second half, a short jumper midway through the third quarter.

Fitch missed six free throws, including five late in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons finished their season with an 11-10 record — an improvement of six wins over the 2009-10 season.

“Our seniors have been phenomenal as far as leadership,” said Cepin. “They’ve really started to turn this program around and it started with them.”