43
Streak snapped
By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
With a 1-4 record, the Canfield High School girls basketball team didn’t start the season as planned.
But Monday’s 54-53 victory over Lakeview might just get the Cardinals on track.
Serena Sammarone scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the final quarter while Brittany Coonce added 13 as Canfield won its first All-American Conference Red Tier game.
“This is the win that we have been waiting for,” Sammarone said. “We’ve been working really hard and knew that it was coming.”
The Bulldogs are still looking for their first league win after moving up from the White Tier.
Sammarone’s bucket with 2:01 remaining gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the game at 52-43.
But two buckets by Jensen Silbaugh led a 7-0 Bulldogs run to cut the margin to 52-50 with 21 seconds remaining.
Two free throws by Baker with four seconds to go extended the Canfield lead to 54-50. A bucket from mid-court by Silbaugh as time expired was too little, too late for Lakeview.
“This was absolutely, unequivocally a learning experience for us against another excellent Division I program,” Bulldogs head coach Jason Senedak said.
The Bulldogs (3-3, 0-2) have yet to play a home game.
They raced to an early 14-8 lead on Silbaugh’s seven points and three points each from Annie Pavlansky and Cammie Becker.
Canfield (2-4, 1-1) halted a three-game tailspin.
The Cardinals responded by scoring eight of the final 10 points of the first quarter to forge a 16-16 deadlock.
The Cardinals scored the first nine points of the second quarter, taking a 25-16 advantage when Ashley Veneroso hit the second of her three triples at 3:43.
The Bulldogs countered with a 10-0 run keyed by Pavlansky’s eight points for a 26-25 lead.
“We have a nice one-two punch in Annie Pavlansky and Jensen Silbaugh,” Senedak said. “They are ultimate competitors and ultimate teammates who always do their best in order to put you in position to win the game.”
Two free tosses by Jill Baker with eight seconds remaining gave Canfield a 27-26 lead at halftime.
Panvlansky finished with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to go with her 21 points.
“We felt like we played some really good teams to start the season and today we were able to finish what we started,” Canfield head coach Matt Reel said. “Serena hates to lose and has a knack for making big plays while Brittany is coming off ACL surgery last season and has taken on a leadership for us role both on and off the court.”
Coonce scored 11 of her 13 points in the opening half.
“Coming off three straight losses we needed a win,” Coonce said. “The fact that it was a league win makes it that much better.
“It was against Lakeview last season that I tore my ACL so I felt like I had a lot to prove tonight.”
A bucket and triple from Christina Rivera helped Canfield build a 35-30 margin midway through the third quarter, but Lakeview went on a 5-0 run to knot the game with 1:14 remaining.
Alexandra Stanic’s hoop from beyond the arc with less than a minute to play, however, gave the Cardinals the lead again at 38-35 heading to the final frame.