Strong schedule, tradition key Canfield

March 6, 2012 at 12:05a.m.

CANFIELD

A strong tradition and willingness to take on tough challenges have helped the Canfield High girls basketball team qualify for its third regional trip in five seasons.

Asked about her memories about Canfield’s trips to Barberton in 2008 and 2009, junior Allison Pavlansky wanted to talk about another Cardinals squad — the 2001 team that finished Division II state runners-up.

“I remember 11 years ago,” said Pavlansky of the team her father, Pat, guided to Columbus. “Their team was really similar to us — we all really get along well, so much more than any team I’ve played a part [on].

“Everyone just wants to win and that’s their main focus,” said Pavlansky who has qualified twice for state in girls tennis. “They don’t care if they score or if they get the assist — it’s all about what the final score is.”

Saturday, the Cardinals (17-7) defeated West Branch, 42-40, on a last-second basket by junior Sabrina Mangapora to earn tonight’s date against Hathaway Brown at Barberton High.

“Our kids just kept believing,” said Pat Pavlansky after the Cardinals converted a missed West Branch foul shot into a rebound (senior Sarah Vrabel), a long pass (freshman Rachel Tinkey) and clutch jumper. “We told them you’ve got to be tougher than you ever been.”

Canfield won despite being limited to 13 points in the first half.

Pavlansky’s message: “Hang in there, your shots are gonna go [in]. We’re not going to go 4-for-18 again. They found some confidence. I’m so proud of hem and the effort that they had.”

Mangapora knows the pressure of being expected to convert against quality competition. When she took Tinkey’s pass, she told herself that “everyone else had done their job down at that end of the court, it’s my turn to do my job on this play, right now.”

Canfield goes to the regional with seven defeats, a sign that their schedule had challenges. Two were to All-American Conference American Division champion Howland, which lost the Div. I district final to Twinsburg.

Another was to West Branch by two points two months ago. And another was to Lowellville, the Div. IV district champion and the best small-school team in the Mahoning Valley.

Those games taught lessons, Mangapora said.

“After we played Howland, the next couple of games we would come together so much more as a team because Howland was good enough to expose our weaknesses and show us what we needed to work on in practice,” Mangapora said.

Allison Pavlansky said the Cards “don’t want to take a break. If we’re 0-20 at the end of [regular season] and we make it out of districts, that’s what you are shooting for.

“We have a lot of tough losses on the road,” she said. “Records don’t mean a thing [compared to what playing tough teams] has instilled in us.”

Tinkey credited junior Kayla Barko for being an unsung hero on a key play late against the Warriors.

With 13 seconds to go and the Cards trying to run out the clock with a 40-39 lead, Warrior Brittany Bryte stole an inbounds pass.

“We were just thinking about being mentally strong and tough,” the freshman point guard said. “We knew we couldn’t let them score easily so we were trying to not give up the lay-up. Kayla made a good foul to make her shoot those free throws.”

Vrabel, whose varsity career was extended by what happened next, said her teammates didn’t panic.

Instead, the message was “just to believe, that there was still time left to do it,” Vrabel said. “We feed off each other and we knew we had to find some way to do it.”

Vrabel, who was a freshman when Canfield made its last regional trip, said the experience “was pretty cool, it was a big atmosphere. As a freshman to be a part of that, it shows you what could happen and gives you a picture of what you need to work for to get there.”