Defensive terrors

January 3, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

Canfield contains South Range

By CHEZ ALLISON

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

Monday’s holiday game was billed as Pack The Gym Night at South Range High School and Canfield made sure its defense made the short trip.

From the beginning to the end of Canfield’s 51-35 victory, the Cardinals (6-4) brought pressure from full-court presses, traps and double teams.

Their defense just wouldn’t allow the Raiders (5-6) to get into any kind of rhythm offensively which was the key to victory in this backyard rivalry.

“Our girls played well and brought a lot of intensity for this one,” Canfield head coach Matt Reel said.

Canfield forced 18 turnovers and that played a major role along with strong play from Brittany Coonce (14 points) and Serena Sammarone (12 points).

Coonce set the tone early offensively by creating a mismatch in the painted area.

“I was able to establish myself early in the game to get easy points for us, knowing it’s going to be a hard-fought rivalry game,” Coonce said. “Credit my teammates for finding me.”

Sammarone was a defensive terror for the South Range guards causing turnovers on errant passes and getting steals.

“We suffered a bad loss here last year so I just wanted to be aggressive and get a win,” Sammarone said. “I had seen the Pack The Gym shirts so that added a little fuel to the fire.”

The Raiders kept it close for most of the game, only down 30-20 at halftime.

“We lost a tough one, but credit their girls for the way they played.” South Range coach Tony Matisi said.

Maddie Durkin led South Range in scoring with eight points and Bri Modic chipped in with seven.

Canfield was able to hold South Range to four fourth-quarter points.

“I emphasized to the team about closing out the end of games after we’ve suffered a few defeats losing leads and last week being defeated by one point,” Reel said.