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Canfield girls win on Boardman’s home court
By ERIC FORTUNE
BOARDMAN
Graduation and the turnover of players from year to year are the facts of life in high school basketball.
Boardman and Canfield are normally programs that can reload, but both are encountering some early growing pains this seaspmn.
The Cardinals seem to be coming out of it first. Back-to-back wins over Lakeview and previously unbeaten Austintown Fitch seems to have gotten them rolling and that continued against the Spartans in a 51-33 victory in an All-American Conference, Red Tier game Wednesday night.
“I think our first eight games this year, we had some tough learning lessons in terms of moving the basketball,” Canfield coach Matt Reel said. “I was pretty proud of our girls tonight. I thought there was a few possessions that I was really, really proud of.
“I thought our unselfishness was good. It’s always tough coming here because it’s Boardman. It’s a great program. Getting a win here, we’re happy, but I think each game we’ve played, minus one, we’ve really improved.”
The Cardinals were led by Serena Sammarone (13 points) and Jill Baker (11), but it was Brittany Coonce’s eight-point, nine-rebound effort that allowed them to control the paint in the first half as they built a 26-14 lead.
“I think our post player Brittany Coonce got us a couple of key rebounds,” Reel said. “I thought she did a good job rebounding. Jill Baker is our unsung player. She usually guards the opposition’s best player. Those girls never get the credit that some other girls do, but they are a huge part of what we do.”
Boardman (2-4, 0-3) couldn’t seem to make the next big shot to cut into the Canfield margin.
The Spartans also saw point guard Jenna Vivo pick up her third foul in the first half, which limited what they could effectively in coach Jeff Hammerton’s opinion.
“We were kind of strapped offensively,” he said. “We struggled to get the ball into spots that we were getting into earlier. Once we got down doubl digits, we decided to press and get after them a little bit which opened up some parts of the court which they were able to expose.”
The Spartans were paced by Lauren Gabriele (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Lauren Pavlansky (10 points).
Boardman got it within five at 19-14 in the second quarter after a Gabriele 3, but saw the Cardinals (4-4, 3-1) close the quarter out on a 7-0 run.
“At one point we had gotten it within five with the ball and we got called for a double dribble,” Hammerton said. “The margin for error is small. We needed to build on that, but when we didn’t get that, they came right back down and hit a 3. Now five turns to eight when it could have been a four-point game.”
The Spartans got it as close as nine after another 3 from Gabriele to open up the third quarter, but Canfield hit some big shots to keep the lead.
“We still have a really young team,” Reel said. “Sometimes, we just have to take a second, pause, relax a little bit, and refocus on what we were trying to do against them defensively. I thought in the second half, they were a lot more aggressive and they finished a little bit better. We knew we weren’t going to hold them to 14 again. It’s just a matter of refocusing.”