BOARDMAN — Every now and then, a good day of practice is just what a team needs. And the Howland girls basketball team had a solid round of preparation before taking the court at Boardman High School.
The Tigers got off to a strong start and prevented the Spartans from getting back into the game, spoiling Boardman’s Senior Night on Wednesday with a 72-54 victory.
“Had a really great practice yesterday. I think that was the key to tonight’s win,” Howland head coach Aaron Pounds said. “We were physical with each other yesterday in practice. When you can recreate game speed, game situations in practice, they’re more prepared for the game itself. Make practice hard, and the game is simple.”
The Tigers couldn’t have had a better first quarter. They had 20 points scattered between four players, with Mia Thomas leading the way with eight.
“We knew they were gonna be fighting for their two seniors,” Pounds said. “We expected a lot of intensity, and the girls met it, the girls matched it. It’s real easy to coach when girls are knocking down shots.”
Howland’s lead grew to 27-8 with just over five minutes to play in the second quarter. But the Spartans started to fight back.
Boardman (3-18, 0-8 All-American Conference) cut the lead to 35-21 with 1:35 left in the half. However, Howland’s offense was clicking, which kept the Spartans from closing the gap any further, and the Tigers took a 40-22 lead into the break.
Howland (5-15, 4-4 AAC) started the third similarly to the first. After giving up a three, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to push their lead to 49-25 midway through the period.
The Spartans tried for one last run in the closing minutes of the fourth.
A three from Jocelynn Torres cut the deficit to 65-50 with 2:29 to play, and shortly after, the Spartans began fouling to extend the game. But the Tigers went on a 6-0 run over a 58-second span to put the game out of reach.
Torres led Boardman with 18 points, and Maddy Slevin ended the night with 17. Emma Terlesky added eight points.
Thomas finished with a game-high 21 points for the Tigers and Maya Kubanscek had 20.
“We need three girls to score and everybody coming off the bench just to play their roles,” Pounds said. “Any we get off of that is extra.”
That third girl was Talia Rishel, who added 15 points. Rishel had a solid day despite playing with a torn shoulder.
“She could’ve shut it down,” Pounds said. “She decided to continue to fight with her teammates.”
Howland will close out the regular season on Tuesday when it hosts Kenston. Then the Tigers turn their attention to the Division III tournament.
They will travel to Uniontown Lake for a sectional final on Feb. 21 at noon.
“These girls are now 5-15,” Pounds said. “They could’ve quit in the middle of the season and simply said, ‘Coach don’t know what he’s doing, we stink, whatever it is.’ But we’ve been fighting our [butts] off.
“We lost four games recently by a total of six points. We lost to West Branch by one, we lost to Harding by three, lost to St. Joe’s by two. They see it. It’s been right there, the fruits of our labor, but it’s nice to come in here and win.”
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