43
Poland, Canfield, West Branch girls reach district semifinals
By Brandon Judeh
Austintown
Tension was high during a Division II sectional final between the Poland and Ravenna girls basketball teams at Fitch High School.
After being down by 16 at the half, things looked dim for the Bulldogs, but that is when head coach Nick Blanch gave his team a heart-felt speech.
“I told the girls that I love them, that I believe in them and that they better believe in themselves,” Blanch said.
His words stuck, as the Bulldogs’ defense clamped down on the Ravens and allowed them just eight second-half points en route to Poland’s 41-37 upset win.
Not only did the Bulldogs’ defense wake up from their slumber, so did their offense.
After scoring 13 points in the first half Poland was able to get key shots from Kasie Serich and Aleah Hughes.
Serich nailed three of her four 3-pointers in the third quarter, which brought Poland within six points.
“I’m a spot-up shooter and I like to shoot 3s,” Serich said. “My assistant coach (Randy Riccitelli) always tells me to square up before I shoot, so I kept that in the back of my mind when I was taking those shots.”
Serich scored 12 points and Aleah Hughes scored a game-high 18 and grabbed nine rebounds.
Poland took its first lead of the game with 3:15 to play in the fourth when Hughes made a layup to make it 38-37.
Key free throws from Rachael Robertson and Liz Suess put the Bulldogs (16-8) up by three.
The Ravens (17-7) had one last chance to send the game into overtime, but Courtney O’Donnell’s shot rattled out and the Bulldogs sealed the unlikely comeback.
The only tense moment in Canfield’s 80-19 blowout of Niles (3-19) in another sectional final Saturday came 1:30 into the contest.
Senior Allison Pavlansky got tangled up under the hoop and went down hard with a twisted ankle and was helped off the court.
“When I first went down, the reaction in my mind was to be nervous, because I didn’t know how severe it was,” she said.
Toward the end of the first quarter Pavlansky walked back over to the bench and soon returned to action.
“You never want to see any of your players get injured, let alone a senior starter,” Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky said. “She has been a key part to our success this year, just like all of our other seniors, luckily she is going to be OK.”
Everything else went smooth for the Cardinals (23-1) as eight different players recorded first-quarter assists and steals.
“It was really nice to see all of the younger girls, who don’t always get a chance to play, get into a playoff game like this and get some experience,” said Sabrina Mangapora, who scored a game-high 18 points.
Senior Abby Baker led the charge early as she scored 11 points including three 3-point baskets. Fellow senior Kayla Barko chipped in with 13.
“Today’s pregame speech was about not taking anything for granted, and as a senior I knew that we were going to have to come out and play hard and grab an early lead,” Baker said.
West Branch had no problem handling Streetsboro, 80-42, in the day’s other sectional game.
The Warriors (22-2) missed their first seven shots, but found the range as sophomore sensation Melinda Trimmer finished with 25 points and seven assists.
“It was a rough start for us, we couldn’t get the ball in the hole, but after we hit a couple of shots things fell into place for us,” Trimmer said.
“Our girls kept their heads up through the slow start and continued to play hard with a lot of energy and it was nice to see our big girls get involved and produce out there,” said West Branch head coach Walt DeShields.