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Canfield defense stymies Howland
By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
While pleased with his team’s offensive effort, Canfield High girls basketball coach Pat Pavlansky fell short of saying that it was the Cardinals’ best effort of the season.
But he couldn’t stop talking about his defense.
Despite foul trouble that plagued her a good portion of the game, Sabrina Mangapora scored a game-high 14 points while Abby Baker added 13 as the Cardinals defeated visiting Howland, 67-42 in an All-American Conference American Division game Thursday.
“When things aren’t going exactly like you expect them to be going, then you have to find an alternate way to get things done and our defense did exactly that for us tonight,” Mangapora said. “I was frustrated after getting into foul trouble, but after watching from the bench all I wanted to do when I got back into the game was make a difference. I was only too glad to be able to contribute in the fourth quarter.”
The Cardinals (6-1, 2-0) reeled off the first five points and 10 of the game’s first 12 behind Baker’s eight markers as they led the Tigers (5-3, 2-1) by a 25-7 count.
Howland’s Gabby Cvengros, who led the Tigers in scoring in their first seven contests, scored seven of her 10 points in the second quarter to help the Tigers pull within 35-22 at halftime.
“The ball isn’t always going to bounce your way so as a team, you have to make adjustments and that is exactly what we did tonight defensively,” Baker said. “As a senior, you have to get everyone to step it up a notch and that’s what we did as a team, especially in the second half.”
After intermission, Rachel Tinkey’s three points paced the Cardinals as they took a 41-26 lead into the fourth.
“That 12-minute span from the beginning of the third quarter to midway through the fourth period was the key,” Pavlansky said. “This was without a doubt our best defensive effort of the year because everyone contributed.”
After committing her fourth foul just 10 seconds into the second half, Mangapora sat the remaining 7:50 only to return in the fourth period to score seven of her game-high 14 points to help seal the victory.
“Canfield is a good team with plenty of veterans,” Howland coach John Diehl said. “We’re a young team and while we had our opportunities, we just weren’t able to convert.
“We were able to get [Sabrina] Mangapora in foul trouble but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. We had some excellent looks at the bucket in the first half, but credit their defense in the second half because they took those looks away.”
Trisha Ginnis had a game-high 13 points for the Tigers.