By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

For the third straight season the Garfield girls basketball team are district champions.

The G-Men earned the honor and carried on the program’s tradition with a 43-37 victory over Liberty on Saturday at Struthers High School.

Next up for Garfield will be a Division III regional semifinal matchup with Shaker Heights Laurel, which is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Cuyahoga Falls High School.

Laurel enters as the No. 1 seed, while the G-Men hold the No. 2 seed.

On Saturday, Garfield’s victory was highlighted by Laura McCoy and Mandy Cardinal.

McCoy finished with 17 points, with 11 coming in the second half.

Cardinal scored nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter, accounting for more than half of Garfield’s fourth-quarter output as a team (14) to help close out the victory.

Zoey May, who buried a pair of first-quarter 3s, finished with nine points for Garfield.

The G-Men led 20-17 at halftime and 29-27 going into the fourth quarter.

Liberty’s top scorer was Aallyah Foster, who scored 17 points. Cianna Smith reached double-digits for Liberty with 10 points.