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Canfield delivers in upset of Ravenna
West Branch survives over Poland for showdown with Cardinals
By Matthew peaslee
Austintown
For 22 games in the 2011-12 season, the Ravenna girls basketball team was perfect. Sporting an unblemished record, the Ravens earned the No. 2 ranking in the state for Division II .
That is until they played Canfield.
“All day, everybody at school was talking about how awesome it would be to beat the No. 2 team in the state,” Canfield guard Abby Baker said.
The talking turned into believing and the believing turned into winning. The Cardinals knocked off the undefeated No. 1 seed in the semifinals of the district tournament, 64-53.
“We had our sights set on this one,” said Sabrina Mangapora. “Our goal has always been the district championship and it just so happened that we had to play Ravenna to get there.
“We came out and we didn’t give in. We took care of business.”
Many Cardinals admitted that playing a team as highly touted as Ravenna gave them extra motivation to be remembered as the squad to deliver the first loss and to end its season. However, coach Pat Pavlansky thought of the opportunity a different way.
“You don’t think of them as undefeated, you think of them as a team,” he said. “What do they do really well? How can we confront that?”
The answer?
“You just have to be tougher,” Pavlansky said. “That’s the toughest we’ve played — I know that for sure.”
Canfield took an early lead on its first two possessions, but the Ravens picked up a six-point lead after the first quarter. Rachel Tinkey hit a 3-pointer to bring the Cardinals back to a one point deficit, early, and on their next possession a Mangapora jump shot gave Canfield a 21-20 lead that they didn’t give up.
“It was extremely tough but I couldn’t do it without everybody else,” Mangapora, who had a game-high 29 points to go with 11 rebounds.
Tinkey finished with eight points and three assists, while Baker had 15 points, including a pair of 3’s that sparked the Cardinals’ key run in the second.
“Every play counts and those 3’s were just added from team motivation,” Baker said.
Ravenna (22-1) was able to get to within one in the third and trailed by three entering the fourth. However, it shot just 4-of-22 from the field in the final eight minutes. The Cardinals (16-7) shot 47 percent for the game and went 18-for-26 from the foul line.
west branch 44, Poland 36
The Bulldogs led by as many as seven early in the second quarter, but West Branch held them scoreless for the last six minutes into halftime. The Warriors (20-2) shot 8-for-14 in the second half and built a strong lead.
“We had momentum after halftime and it came down to playing good, solid defense,” coach Walt DeShields said. “Offensively, we spread the floor more. Once we get a lead, I think we’re pretty good.”
Freshman Pavin Heath had a game-high 19 points with seven rebounds and Rebekah Zets had eight points.
Poland (13-9) was led by seniors Abbie Frank and Maura Bobby who had 14 and 10 points, respectively.
“We’ve been a surprise to everyone but ourselves,” Poland coach Nick Blanch said. “I’m proud of my girls. I wanted them to compete. We showed up and these seniors helped put Poland basketball back on the map.”