Howland ousted: Williams injured

March 4, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

AKRON

Facing a favored opponent is one thing. Doing it after suffering an unexpected setback just as the game begins is a whole other level of stress.

Taking on defending state champion Twinsburg in the girls Division I district championship game, Howland’s leading scorer and rebounder, senior center Taylor Williams, crumpled to the floor in pain with a right ankle just 16 seconds after the opening jump ball.

With Williams’ playing time and effectiveness severely limited, Howland wore down in the second half, losing 66-45 on Saturday at Ellet High School.

“What do you do?” Howland (22-2) coach John Diehl asked rhetorically after the game. “Our whole scheme goes through Taylor. It’s like losing your quarterback in warm-ups.”

Williams finished with four points and three rebounds, playing about 16 minutes. She had the ankle wrapped immediately after the injury, then iced it at halftime and had it re-taped.

But she had an obvious limp when she returned to the lineup with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter. She came out at the 1:40 mark of the period and did not return.

“She’s feeling like she let the team down,” Diehl said, “but she didn’t, obviously. She’s a tough kid.”

Williams’ presence was particularly felt on the defensive end of the floor, where Twinsburg’s Malina Howard flourished.

Howard finished with 39 points, tying her career high and the school record, and Ashley Morrissette finished with 13 points and four assists for Twinsburg (21-3).

“We were much more aggressive on offense in the second half, Twinsburg coach Julie Solis said. “They were doubling on Malina and it just seemed in the first half like we didn’t want to get it to her. But we made some adjustments, got her the ball at the top of the key and let her go to work.”

Erika Nites and Olivia Nicholas finished with 16 and 12 points, respectively, for Howland, and Paige Laychick scored 10.

Howland made just two baskets from the 0:20 mark of the first quarter until 6:25 remained in the game, a span of almost 18 minutes. The last tie of the game was 25-25, then Twinsburg went on a 20-2 run and led by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter.

“You hate to see a great player [Williams] not be able to compete,” Solis said.