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Taylor’d for success: Williams helps propel Howland to big AAC win over rival Poland
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Howland's #24 Taylor Williams shoots through Poland's Allison Berend, left, and Maura Bobby during first-half action at Poland Monday.
By Jon Moffett
POLAND
Taylor Williams looked as if she hadn’t even broken a sweat as she jogged off the court and into the locker room.
Williams had just helped her Howland basketball team to another big win, a 55-12 victory against All-American Conference Red Tier rival Poland. The win puts the Tigers at 8-0 on the season, and 2-0 in the conference.
And Williams isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
The 6-foot-1 junior scored a game-high 19 points and had several key blocks in the win. And this was all while taking a seven-minute breather to close out the game.
“Either way, every game you learn to progress from something,” she said.
“From this one, we learned to make easier passes. Tonight we learned that an extra pass can prevent a steal going the other way, as opposed to a longer pass.”
Williams single-handedly outscored the Bulldogs (7-3, 1-1) in the effort. And her 11 points were one fewer than Poland scored all night.
Howland coach John Diehl said Williams is developing into a great player and offers her teammates a safety valve on the court.
“She’s always been our most consistent player, and she still is,” Diehl said. “She understands defense very well, she sees the floor very well and she changes a lot of shots. But it’s just her knowledge of the game is pretty good for a junior.
“If our guards take a gamble and they get beat, they know they’ve got Taylor to back them up, and she’ll block that shot. She’s kind of our go-to player in the crunch when we need to score a basket, and the girls know to look for her if we need a winning basket.”
Though she didn’t have the game-winning basket, Williams did have several important buckets. She had several put-backs on errant shots by her teammates, and also was a force underneath the hoop.
Poland coach Nick Blanch said it is difficult for any team to compete with a player with her combination of height and athleticism.
“Even when we guard her front and back, you can’t take away the fact she’s seven foot when her hand is in the air,” he said. “I mean, she is every bit of seven foot. So she lobs it up, and how do we defend that when we have five guards on the court?”
The Tigers’ strong inside-outside game worked well, also. When the Bulldogs crashed the middle, Williams found her teammates on the wings looking for the three-pointer. Erika Nites had two such baskets, and Pagie Loychik added another. Nites finished with nine points while Loychik added five.
Blanch said despite the lopsided final score he was proud of his team for not “packing it in” against what he said is the best team in the area — and one of the best in the state.
“We’re not the first victim, and we’re definitely not going to be the last,” he said. “That’s the best girls basketball team in the entire area, and one of the best in the state, let alone the area. One of the best in the state. The best, hands down. And I just wanted my girls to compete with them.”
Junior guard Maura Bobby led the team with six points. Seniors Emily Rollo and Leigh Kelley each added two points.