Canfield girls take another from Howland

January 25, 2015 at 12:10a.m.

HOWLAND

Canfield guard Rachel Tinkey played a little over two minutes before an ankle injury — originally suffered in their season opener — forced her to the bench in the first meeting this season between the Cardinals and Howland.

Canfield won that game, 45-32, on Dec. 17, but Tinkey felt empty about not being able to contribute to that victory.

But her contributions were felt Saturday afternoon by both teams in a rematch at Howland.

Tinkey score a team-high 22 points, hauled in a game-high nine rebounds and made back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as Canfield he lead for good as the Cardinals defeated the Tigers, 60-55 in All-American Conference, Red Tier action.

It was the 13th consecutive victory for Canfield (13-2, 7-0), which opened a two-game lead over Howland (11-4, 5-2) with just three AAC contests remaining.

“Howland is an excellent team and they were playing better than us the first three quarters. We came out a little lax and you cannot do that against a team like the Tigers and expect to win,” Tinkey said. “In the fourth quarter, Savannah [Barko] set a good screen for me and I was able to knock down the 3-point bucket that gave us the lead. You don’t make shots without help from your teammates.”

Tinkey mentioned freshman Jill Baker, who hit some key free throws and made a basket down the stretch.

Seven points by Tinkey and six more by Erin Risner staked the Cardinals to a 14-9 lead after the first eight minutes of play.

A bucket by Lynnae Whitehead at 6:06 of the second frame increased the Canfield margin to 17-13, but a 7-0 run by Howland — including two buckets by Sara Price and a conventional three-point play by Jada Pagan — gave Howland a 20-17 lead. The Tigers stayed in front until the fourth quarter.

Price had 18 of her game-high 29 points in the fist half.

“Sara did a great job of getting open, but it’s hard to work like that at both ends of the court the entire game,” Tigers head coach John Diehl said. “Canfield did an excellent job today of defending Victoria [Rappach]. We ran about 15 different sets, but couldn’t get her open.”

Rappach, who finished with 12 points in the first game with Canfield, was held to just five points with all coming after intermission. She was coming off a 32-point effort — including a school-record eight 3-pointers — in a 70-58 win over Fitch on Wednesday.

Risner, who scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half, said it was a team win.

“We didn’t play as well as we had liked in the first half and coach [Matt] Reel told us at halftime that we’ve been in this position before, just come together, work as a team and we would be all right,” Risner said. “We did come together and worked really hard at both ends of the court.”

Five points by Price after intermission helped the Tigers to a 40-39 margin with one period remaining, despite being outscored 13-9 but Canfield in the third frame.

A bucket by Lexi Ross and two free throws by Price with 6:29 remaining then gave Howland a 44-39 advantage, but Tinkey’s 3-pointers — the last at 4:47 — keyed an 8-0 run by Canfield. The Tigers led 47-44 at that point and stayed in front the rest of the way.

“They imposed their will on us for two and a half quarters and I told our players that we needed to get back to what we do best and that is play defense,” Reel said. “We pride ourselves in our defense and did a much better job of defending in the fourth quarter.

“Erin and Rachel are both seniors who have been through this before. Rachel hit two big 3-point buckets in the fourth period. What is a terrible shot for others is a good shot for her.”