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Mooney overcomes sloppy start to edge Boardman
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By Steve Wilaj
BOARDMAN
In Saturday’s season opener against Boardman, the Cardinal Mooney High School girls basketball team played sloppy and erratic for just about the entire first 29 minutes of the contest.
“Oh yeah, it was stressing me out,” Mooney’s first-year head coach Erica Wilson said.
However, the last three minutes were a different story.
Closing the game strong, the Cardinals took a one-point lead with 3:10 remaining and never gave it back as Mooney defeated the Spartans, 62-58, in a wild opener.
“We just played smart at the end,” senior Jaclyn Yankle said. “We didn’t make stupid passes or turn the ball over and then we played good defense.”
Tied at 42 going into the final quarter, there were four lead changes to open the quarter until Mooney’s Maggie Monahan connected on a layup to put the Cardinals ahead, 55-54, at the 3:10 mark.
Monahan then converted another layup with 2:30 left to put Mooney up by three, before Boardman’s Jenna Vivo cut the deficit back to one with a layup at the 1:45 mark.
But free throws by Monahan and Yankle combined with a couple costly Spartans turnovers eventually put the game out of reach.
Yankle — who scored a team-high 21 points for Mooney (1-0) — made a pair of free throws with four seconds left to ice the contest.
“We knew Boardman would come at us with a strong defense,” Wilson said. “So our focus all week was, no matter what five were in the game, that we stay composed.
“In the long run that helped. I felt that the girls were just focused and really wanted to get the win.”
Both teams came out firing — and a bit sloppy. Boardman (0-1) took a 31-28 halftime lead as the Cardinals committed 14 first half turnovers and the Spartans racked up seven.
Forward Krista Johnson, who scored a game-high 24 points and is Boardman’s only returning scorer from a year ago, sparked the Spartans with 16 first half points.
The junior shot an astonishing 18 free throws in the first 16 minutes, connecting on 11.
For the game, Boardman, which also received 19 points from freshman Vivo, finished just 22 of 38 at the foul line.
“For us, it came down to free throws and layups,” Spartans coach Jeff Hammerton said. “When you play a team like Mooney that’s a lot bigger than you, you have to capitalize on those things.
“There was no back down from our girls though. We had our chances but just fell short.”
Another advantage for Mooney was in the rebounding column. The Cardinals outrebounded Boardman 35-18, led by Monahan’s 21 boards to go along with 17 points.
Mooney also cut its turnovers to just seven in the second half, finishing with 21 total.
“I think everyone came out a little nervous with it being our first game, but once we settled down, we played good in the second half,” Yankle said. “We just need to continue forward and keep working.”