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Price is right for Howland
Despite early foul trouble, she dominated Boardman
By Tom Williams
BOARDMAN
In Howland’s 60-53 victory over Boardman on Tuesday, 6-foot-1 junior Sara Price scored 31 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked three shots.
Her biggest accomplishment was playing the entire game even though she picked up her third personal foul with 5:25 remaining in the second quarter.
“Sara Price is a phenomenal player,” Boardman coach Jeff Hammerton said. “Our goal was to try and get her into foul trouble, and then she was smart enough to not pick up another foul the rest of the game.
“Which is pretty tough when you think where she is playing. She didn’t go over-the-back once, she didn’t hit an arm while blocking a shot. She played a clean game after that.”
The Tigers (13-5, 7-1 All-American Conference Red) needed everything Price had to wipe out an 11-point third-quarter deficit.
Trailing 44-36 to start the final quarter, Price scored the Tigers’ next seven points to slice the Spartans’ lead to 46-43.
As Boardman (11-7, 5-5) scrambled to keep up, Krista Johnson picked up her third and fourth fouls, then was called for a charge with 3:45 remaining. Her absence was felt.
The Tigers outscored the Spartans 13-5 for the win that keeps them tied with Canfield atop the Red standings.
“Boardman played really well tonight,” Howland coach John Diehl said. “They are probably the best driving team in the league. Johnson is the best driver in the league.”
Lauren Gabriele led the Spartans with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson scored 12 points and Jenna Vivo 11.
Diehl said he didn’t consider sitting Price.
“Her whole career, she [has shown] she can play with three fouls,” Diehl said. “I even have the faith that she could have played the [entire] second half with four fouls — she’s that controlled.”
Price said Diehl “knows I can play smart and that’s what I did. I just had to keep my hands up and I made a switch — [Gabriele] was coming after me, she knew I had three fouls. I played a little smarter defense.”
Teammate Victoria Rappach, who scored 12 points, wasn’t surprised that Price remained in the game.
“Sara can see [when] she needs to take a step back because we need her in the game,” Rappach said. Howland led by six early in the second quarter when the Spartans surged, posting an 9-0 run with five points from Gabriele and four from Johnson.
Ahead 34-29 at halftime, Johnson scored on a drive late in the third quarter for a 44-33 lead.
“Of course I was frustrated,” Rappach said, “but I knew we could step it up.”
Hammerton was pleased with the hard work his team displayed.
“The first time we played, they ran us right out of the gym, we lost by 20-plus,” said Hammerton, who opted for man-to-man defense in round two. “I’m really happy with how the girls responded.”
Hammerton said for the past two weeks Gabriele has been playing “unbelievable. She went toe-to-toe on Saturday against [Gilmour Academy’s] Naz Hillman and that gave her the confidence to go toe-to-toe with Sara Price.
“[Price] is hard to defend. We tried fronting her, we tried playing behind her, we tried chipping her as she came across screens. She finds a way to get the ball and she makes plays.”
Diehl was pleased with his team’s response to adversity.
“We’ve matured as a team,” Diehl said. “Earlier in the season, we would have lost that game without a doubt. Beating Canfield [Saturday] gave us a lot of confidence.”