Thursday, February 19, 2015
Tinkey helps Canfield end regular season on strong note
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Canfield High girls basketball coach Matt Reel calls senior Rachel Tinkey “a star without a star’s ego,” someone who wants the ball when it’s crunch time but doesn’t need the credit afterward.
“I can’t say enough about her,” Reel said. “She’s a joy to coach.”
And a pain to play. Just ask Lakeview.
Tinkey scored 16 points to go with 11 rebounds as the visiting Cardinals finished their regular season on a strong note, defeating the Bulldogs 52-39 on Wednesday night.
“Defensively, we really wanted to come out and set the tone,” said Tinkey, whose Cardinals led 13-4 after the first quarter. “Our guards out front were tremendous. Savannah Barko played amazing. She’s our rock defensively and really set the tone for us out there.”
Ashley Kaleel added 10 points and four rebounds and Emily Ellis had 10 points for the Cardinals (19-3), who will likely host North Canton Hoover in a sectional final on Feb. 26. Hoover’s first-round opponent is Canton Timken.
Hoover eliminated Canfield in last year’s district final, 76-34, en route to a state runner-up finish. And while the eighth-seeded Vikings aren’t as strong this season, that’s still a tough way to open tournament play.
“In Division I, it’s kind of crazy because the 11th seed, Barberton, is 19-3,” Reel said. “So you’ve got to play somebody. Hoover, I think, wanted to play us and our girls wanted to play Hoover.
“We’re going to see where we’re at and see how much we’ve improved last year.”
The Cardinals got a good preview on Wednesday night, since Lakeview’s pressure is similar to what the Vikings like to do defensively. Canfield handled it well most of the night, but the Bulldogs did make an 8-0 run to end the second quarter, cutting the halftime deficit to 25-20. Lakeview then scored the first basket of the third quarter, but Tinkey hit a 3-pointer and Emily Ellis scored inside to make it 30-22.
From there, the game was never really in doubt.
“We generally start off out of the gate pretty well, so that [first-quarter deficit] is something we’re not really used to,” Lakeview coach Adam Lewis said. “That little run we made at the end of the second quarter gave us life for the second half. I told the girls the first possession of the third quarter was going to be huge and we just never really capitalized in the second half after that.”
Freshman Annie Pavlansky — whose uncle, former Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky, was in the audience — led the Bulldogs (19-3) with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
“She wanted this game bad,” Lewis said of Pavlansky. “She’s been talking about this game all year, so I know she was excited about it.”
Addie Becker added 12 points and three rebounds and senior Abby Pavlik had four rebounds and five assists, but was held scoreless.
“We’ll take that,” said Reel, who was worried about Pavlik’s potential impact. “I thought as the game went on, we got better and better defensively.”
Lakeview is seeded second in the Division II Austintown district (behind West Branch) and Lewis believes Wednesday’s game was a nice pre-tournament test.
“If we want to make the run we’re hoping to, that’s [Canfield] the caliber of team we’re going to see,” he said.