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Howland’s early lead ignites win at Poland
By Dan Hiner
Poland
Howland basketball players Victoria Rappach and Sara Price looked like an unstoppable duo in Saturday’s 60-52 win over Poland.
Rappach had a double-double (28 points and 10 rebounds) and Price scored 18 points along with her five rebounds.
“It’s pretty important, but everyone on our team contributes to the win. [Sara and I] always play well together and we find each other when we’re open,” Rappach said.
Howland (6-3) jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in the first quarter due to early scoring by Price. She scored 10 points in the first quarter but the Bulldogs were able to string together a several high-percentage shots to cut the lead to 17-14 heading into the second.
Howland’s defense started to put pressure on Poland in the second quarter. The Tigers’ defense forced Poland into contested shots and held the Bulldogs to eight points, allowing Howland to take a 29-22 lead into halftime.
Rappach looked as if she couldn’t miss in the second half. Rappach scored nine of her 28 points in the third quarter. With an additional eight points by Mackenzie Maze and Price, Howland extended its lead to 46-38 in the third quarter.
“The kids just played hard ... it’s just growing pains and they will get better as we go along here,” Poland head coach Nick Blanch said. “But the problem is when we get down, we get down by 10 or 12 points and we battle back, but then we’re gassed.
“And all of a sudden we’re down by 10 or 12 points again,” Blanch said. “Rappach and Price are lethal and they very well coached by John Diehl and his staff. We can’t have those kinds of errors in these kinds of games”
Poland (6-2, 4-1 All-American Conference White Division) did have a chance to get back into the game in the fourth. Poland cut the lead to 54-48 with less than five minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs weren’t able to sustain momentum long enough to take advantage of their opportunity.
“Two good programs going at one an other. Just some things we got to clean up,” Blanch said. “We lost some loose balls and I think that was the difference in the game. They got more second shot opportunities than we did.
“They just had a little bit more pep in their step to get to the loose balls — which we needed to do. I think if we clean that up a little bit, the tides would be on the other side.”
Poland’s Bella Gajdos sparked the Bulldogs’ comeback in the second half. Gajdos hit two 3-pointers. Howland focused on shutting down Gajdos late in the game. Gajdos finished the game with a team-high 15 points and five rebounds.
Howland head coach John Diehl said he wants the other members of the team to step up, but if he needs to rely on the combination of Rappach and Price, he’s willing to live with his two best players shooting the ball.
“Tori’s played pretty well today,” Diehl said. “Sara’s hot in the first quarter but cooled off in the second half. I’d like to have other people step up and score. I don’t mind them shooting and they don’t take bad shots.”