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Top-seeded Hoover too much for Canfield
Top-seeded Hoover
too much for Cardinals
By BRANDON JUDEH
NORTH CANTON
There is no denying that the eighth-seeded Canfield girls basketball team has had a Cinderella run in this year’s Division I sectional-district tournament.
The Cardinals defeated heavily favored Austintown Fitch in a sectional final and then made a furious comeback to beat Uniontown Green on Monday.
But the clock struck midnight for Canfield on Friday night at Walsh University as they ran into top-seeded North Canton Hoover, which defeated the Cardinals, 76-34.
Turnovers doomed the Cardinals.
These mistakes came early and often for the Cardinals (16-9) as they committed eight turnovers in the first quarter, which led to a 10-0 run by the Vikings.
“Hoover is so good at pressuring the ball and they did a great job of forcing us to turn the ball over, but that’s what great teams do,” said Canfield head coach Pat Pavlansky. “This was a great learning experience for us, though. It should be a great building block for next season.”
By the time half time rolled around Canfield had turned the ball over a staggering 15 times as they found themselves down by nineteen.
One bright spot for the Cardinals in the first half was junior point guard and three-year starter Rachel Tinkey.
Tinkey was hot from the field, making four of five shots, including two 3-pointers.
She finished with 18 points and five rebounds.
“Hoover is a great team,” Tinkey said. “We had to be disciplined tonight just to get the little things done, but I credit my shooting in the first half to my teammates. They did a great job of moving the ball around.”
Finding themselves down by a large deficit is nothing new for the Cardinals as they were down by 17 points to Uniontown Green on Monday and fought their way back in overtime.
Unfortunately the Vikings (23-2) wouldn’t allow that to happen on Friday.
Hoover picked up where it left off at the start of the second half as they opened with an 8-0 run to finish to Canfield’s remarkable run.
This was the Cardinals’ third consecutive appearance in a district final. Canfield won the last two, beating West Branch in Division II.
Perhaps this year’s title game was the best learning experience for a young team.
The Cardinals have just two seniors — Jamie Giambattista and Crissy Gelonese — meaning nearly their entire team will return next season.
Pavlansky said he has to give all of the credit to his two senior leaders and both girls agree their time at Canfield has been special.
“What a ride this has been while at Canfield,” Giambattista said. “People have doubted us at times and we were able to prove them wrong and being in three district title games was awesome.”
Gelonese was unable to play due to a torn ACL, but that didn’t ruin the senior’s spirit.
“My time here has been special,” Gelonese said. “I have gone through two ACL tears now and though it has been frustrating. My team has had my back and made it so much easier for me to get through this.”
Marquia Turner led Hoover with 17 points and Julie Worley had 14.