Hunter, Fitch hold off Howland

January 10, 2019 at 12:10a.m.

Hunter, Fitch take control

to hold off Howland

By Dan Hiner

Austintown

Sabria Hunter need a little time to focus during halftime. The extra time paid off as she scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half of Austintown Fitch’s 61-56 win over Howland at Fitch High School on Wednesday night.

“I got really frustrated because I wasn’t finishing with the contact [in the first half],” Hunter said. “I kind of just had to pull myself together. I said a little prayer and just went back out there.”

The Falcons’ forward finished with 15 rebounds, four blocks and a steal.

Howland (7-5) was down 56-47 win a minute left to play. But the Tigers cut the lead to three with 18.8 seconds left.

Howland’s Alex Ochman took a contested layup against Hunter on the next possession, but the shot was off the mark. Ochman finished with nine points.

“We know Howland, they’re not gonna give up,” Austintown Fitch coach Dan Schnurrenberger said. “I gotta do a better job at the end there. I gotta help my girls out — call a timeout here and there. But I’m proud of them. My girls played hard.”

Neither team got in a groove in the first half. The Falcons (7-3) led 18-16, and Hunter had just eight points while Ochman was scoreless.

Role players stepped up for both teams in the first two quarters with Ochman and Hunter struggling.

Daria Williams scored 17 points and Mia Jackson added 13 for the Falcons. Maria Dellimuti scored six of the Tigers’ first seven points and finished with 14. Kayla Clark also had 14 points for Howland.

“Sabria’s just a load,” Howland coach John Diehl said. “I thought Kayla did a nice job on her even though she had 20-some points. “Sabria’s so strong and we let [Williams] and [Jackson] score about 27 points and they’re averaging two, three, five, seven points a game.”

Hunter hit two free throws to give the Falcons a two-point lead with 5.8 seconds left. She credited her team for the win.

“I was playing for the team,” Hunter said. “We had a lot of girls step up. It was nice to know we had each other’s back. A lot of people stepped up and that helped me focus and calm down a little bit.”