Healthier Walsh bounces Howland

February 24, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Howland

When the Division I girls basketball district tournament was drawn earlier this month, Howland coach John Diehl knew his young team had a difficult task in the opener.

Walsh Jesuit was under-seeded, rounding into form after a significant injury to a key player and very dangerous. Diehl and every other coach in the tournament knew this.

“They’re very talented,” Diehl said, playfully reliving the tournament draw when Pete Zaccari and the 10-seed Warriors chose to play Howland, the nine-seed. “I asked him, ‘Why’d you jump on me?’

“There were three or four schools ahead of us I’d rather play than them,” Diehl said. “I just kind of went, ‘Ugh,’ at that draw.”

Behind 25 points from point guard Anna Hall and a ferocious defensive effort leading to 15 Tiger turnovers, the visiting Warriors bounced Howland, 60-42, Monday night in a sectional game

Howland guard Victoria Rappach drilled four 3-pointers to keep the Tigers in the game into the second half, but the powerful Warriors had too much firepower down the stretch.

The Tigers led 16-13 after one quarter and, despite Rappach’s outside shooting and forward Sara Price’s effectiveness inside, Walsh took a four-point lead into the half. Regina Reilly scored two of her 15 points to put Walsh ahead 25-23 in the final minute of the first half and Hall padded it with a steal-and-layup.

The Warriors’ defensive intensity only heightened in the second half as Rappach was limited to one field goal and anything inside was immediately repelled.

Hall scored six points, including another steal-turned-lay-up, in a 14-2 run. A jump shot from Lilli Piper, who will play both basketball and softball at Akron according to Diehl, put Walsh ahead 42-26 with 2:30 left in the third.

Rappach ended the run with the aforementioned 3-ball, but the damage was done and the game already out of reach.

“We knew they were going to press us and they kind of did in the first half,” Diehl said, “and the young girls threw it away and let it go through our hands. They picked us up more full-court to start the second half, I thought.”

Hall found Reilly inside on Walsh’s first fourth-quarter possession and then added another basket for a 46-31 lead with 5:30 left.

Howland MacKenzie Maze’s three-point play with 3:20 to go brought Howland to within 10 points, but Hall, a human floor burn with bruises to match, came right back with a continuation shot after a foul call. She later earned another steal and added a pair of free throws.

“We knew our zone [defense] wasn’t really working in the first half, so we decided to come out in man and we just dominated, “ said Hall, who plays every bit the part of a Division I basketball talent (the senior is undecided on a school). “We wanted it really bad.”

Piper was out with injury for much of the season and returned in the regular season’s final weeks. She is the inside threat on offense and interior presence on defense, the perfect complement to Hall.

“My scoring comes from trying to set my teammates up and help them, “ said Hall, a 5-foot-8 senior. “It’s a team effort and not just me.”

The Tigers were missing senior starting point guard Trisha Ginnis, who was lost to injury late in the regular season.

Walsh moves on to host Austintown Fitch Thursday in a sectional final.