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Spartans’ drought vs. Tigers is over
By Greg Gulas
HOWLAND
The last time the Boardman girls defeated Howland it was Feb. 2, 2015 — 1,438 days ago — and the Spartans won, 52-51.
The last Spartans victory on the Tigers’ court goes back even further, a 57-37 win on Feb. 2, 2013 or 2,170 days ago.
Both streaks came to an abrupt halt Saturday with Boardman’s 51-43 victory over Howland. It was the Spartans’ sixth win in seven outings to remain undefeated in All-American Conference Red action.
Maria Torres, a sophomore who didn’t play last season due to a torn ACL, weathered early foul trouble to score a game-high 18 points for the Spartans.
Raegan Burkey added 10 points and Cate Green nine to also pace Boardman (10-3, 3-0 AAC Red).
The Spartans built a 10-point, third-quarter lead, then saw the Tigers tie the game at 33 late in the period. But Boardman put the game away with a 10-4 game-ending run.
“It was really tough to score today because when you penetrated everybody collapsed defensively,” Torres said. “I wasn’t worried when I got in foul trouble because I knew my teammates had my back. This is an amazing win for us.”
Torres scored 10 of Boardman’s first 11 points as the Spartans raced out to an 11-4 lead at 3:43 of the opening period.
After Torres picked up her first second foul with 2:59 left in the quarter, Jenna DeSalvo notched five points to key a 7-1 Tigers run as they cut the deficit to 12-11 after the first eight minutes of action.
“We knew that we would be facing hard pressure defensively, so the game plan was to keep the offense simple and not complicated,” Burkey said. “It’s a special win for us and as the final seconds ticked down, I found myself smiling because it’s been so long since we beat them, especially on their court.”
Boardman led 33-23 early in the third, but Alex Ochman scored two baskets to key a 10-0 run by Howland (7-6, 0-2) to tie the game.
Cate Green’s three-point play at 2:16 then helped Boardman forge a 36-33 lead heading to the final quarter of action.
“This feels so good. It’s our revenge tour and we were ready to play today,” Green said. “This is an unselfish team and we play for one another.”
When Ochman canned the first of her two free throw attempts with 2:40 remaining, it enabled the Tigers to cut the Spartans lead to 41-39.
Howland got no closer.
“We wanted to play our inside-out game and focus on their bigs,” Spartans head coach Jeff Hammerton said. “The goal was to pound it low to Maria. We just didn’t factor her getting into foul trouble that early in the game.”
Howland coach John Diehl credited Boardman’s effort after the game.
“After we tied them they were able to get their shots to fall and we didn’t,” he said. “They played harder tonight than we did, period, end of story.”
The Tigers have now lost four in a row to fall to 5-2 at home this season.