Lakeview’s Calvin hits a 3 at buzzer to beat Canfield
By JOE CATULLO Jr.
CANFIELD
Lakeview High knew what play it wanted to run trailing by two with 9.8 seconds to play on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs put their fate in Alli Pavlik’s hands. Three seconds into the play, Pavlik lost the ball as Canfield fought for its second steal in five seconds.
Abby Pavlik collected the loose ball with five seconds remaining. She dribbled underneath the hoop and passed it to a contested Rachelle Calvin, who was standing behind the 3-point line. Lakeview had no timeouts remaining.
“After Abby passed it to me, I was like ‘I’ve got to make this. I’ve got to make this,’” Calvin said. “After I saw Alli lose it, I said ‘We have one chance to do this.’”
Calvin, known primarily for her defense, attempted the 3-pointer as time ran out. Praying for a miracle, Calvin was surprised with the result.
She nailed the biggest shot of her career and Lakeview stunned the Cardinals, 54-53.
“Everything after Alli lost the ball was improv,” Lakeview coach Adam Lewis said.
Canfield (13-7) was almost the story, which would have been a fourth-quarter comeback after blowing an 11-point halftime lead. Tied at 51 with 1:03 left in the game, Lakeview (20-2) held the ball for 53 seconds before Canfield’s Savannah Barko stole a pass and was fouled in the process. She nailed both free throws, which were her only points of the contest.
“We practiced that 100 times so far this season,” Lewis said. “You always want to get it down to the last shot. To hold the ball for 45 seconds or whatever it was is not an easy task. That’s just the way it worked out.”
In the end, it was the third quarter that gave Canfield the biggest headaches. The Bulldogs outscored the Cardinals, 18-4, and forced 11 turnovers. Alli Pavlik scored 11 of her team-high 17 points in the quarter. Lakeview led, 40-37.
“The biggest thing came down to the third quarter,” Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky said. “We were glad we were that close because we played a terrible, terrible quarter.”
Besides the third quarter, another key for Lakeview was rebounding even though Canfield won that battle, 31-20. The Cardinals collected 10 more rebounds in the first half and only one in the fourth quarter. Both teams were even in the third.
“We were out rebounded by like 25 Monday night against Fitch, so our focus tonight was controlling the boards,” Lewis said. “I saw at half that we were down by 10 on the rebounds. I let them know that we needed to rebound better.”
Behind Alli Pavlik was Calvin with 11 points (three 3-pointers). Canfield’s Rachel Tinkey scored a game-high 21 points while Ashley Kaleel and Jamie Giambattista each had 10.
“We just talked in the huddle and made sure that she [Alli Pavlik] didn’t have the ball, and she didn’t have the ball,” Pavlansky said. “The ball went on the floor, and they happened to get it. We defended the play well. Their girl made a shot, and that’s life.”