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AAC victory in the Cards for growing Canfield team
By STEVE WILAJ
CANFIELD
Canfield has its senior leader in starting guard Ashley Kaleel. As for the rest of the Cardinals, they’re not exactly plentiful in experience.
However, with games like Wednesday’s 54-50 comeback win against Howland at Canfield High, the young Cardinals seem sure to mature in no time.
“I thought we had some girls that really haven’t had varsity experience really step up and grow tonight,” Canfield head coach Matt Reel said. “We survived some missed free throws and turnovers, but we played hard for 32 minutes and I’m really proud of them for that.”
Freshman Serena Sammarone — one of the inexperienced Cardinals — led Canfield (5-1, 3-0 All-American Conference, Red) with 15 points, while the veteran Kaleel added 12.
Meanwhile, junior forward Brittany Coonce — also not accustomed to big varsity moments — scored seven points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds as she did most of her damage in the final frame to help Canfield rally from a six-point, fourth-quarter deficit.
“We just had to communicate,” Coonce said. “It mostly came from everybody on the bench bringing the juice and everybody working together to get a good win.
“I had to step up in the fourth quarter to take on responsibilities. I had to finally grow up and rebound the ball more.”
Howland, which was paced by 17 points each from Victoria Rappach and Sara Price, took two-point lead into the fourth. The Tigers (3-3, 1-1) then built their advantage to 46-40 midway through the period before Canfield chipped away.
With 2:45 remaining, Coonce scored on a put-back layup to cut Howland’s lead to 50-48. Then, after an Alexandra Stanic layup tied the contest at 50 with 2:11 left, a Coonce foul shot at the 1:52 mark gave the Cardinals a one-point lead.
“She’s a girl that really didn’t play too much in middle school and is kind of new to basketball,” Reel said. “She’s starting to realize how good of a basketball player she can be and she really did step up, make some big plays and get some big rebounds at crucial times for us tonight.”
Howland — which was held scoreless for the final three minutes — missed a couple of opportunities down the stretch.
With 23 seconds left, the Tigers missed a short jumper before committing a turnover. Then with seven seconds remaining and Canfield ahead by two, Price missed the front end of a one-and-one, before Kaleel iced the game with two free throws.
“We had a lot of turnovers at the end, didn’t play very smart and took a couple awful shots,” Howland coach John Diehl said. “It was very frustrating. I thought we were a little more mature than we showed tonight.
“We kind of controlled most of the game and I figured we’d continue that at the end. But we’ve been having trouble finishing games and it proved again tonight.”
After Canfield took an 18-8 first-quarter lead, Howland outscored the Cardinals 33-21 over the second and third quarters before Canfield won the final period, 15-9.
“They’re a tough team to guard,” Reel said. “[Diehl] coaches them well and they do good things offensively. So they’re just a quality team and we’re thrilled to escape with a win.”