By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Garfield girls basketball head coach Aaron Gilbert was quick to praise his entire team for their thrilling come-from-behind victory over Southeast on Friday.

Every girl that stepped onto the court made a significant contribution during the team’s fourth-quarter comeback and no player scored more than 11 points in the team’s 53-46 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference victory over visiting Southeast.

But there was also something that stood out to Gilbert during the win: The approach of standout Mandy Cardinal.

And not necessarily for her statistical output, but rather for her signs of maturity as a player.

“I think what we saw tonight was senior Mandy. If this was sophomore Mandy tonight, I think she would have been pushing to try to solve everything herself.”

Friday’s answer included Cardinal, but plenty of others, too.

It helped the G-Men storm back from a deficit at the end of the game’s first three quarters (17-6, 27-21 and 37-33) and outscore the Pirates 20-9 over the final 8 minutes of action.

Using a matchup zone press, the G-Men changed the tempo of the game and seized all of the momentum that Southeast had established through the game’s first 24 minutes.

“I was nervous to press at the beginning because Southeast is just so athletic and our man press just had not been right,” Gilbert said. “With the zone press we were running, it is something that we did last year and because we have so many players returning, we can do stuff on the fly a little bit more, because I can say, ‘Remember this from last year,’ and most of the girls can handle that.

“That press for us is not designed to get steals, but just to keep them in front of you and try to get them to turn it over. It is designed to be an annoyance more than anything,” Gilbert said.

Garfield first grabbed the lead after Madi Seiler scored on a putback from an offensive rebound followed by a completed and-one by Charlee Hill. The five-point sequence gave the G-Men a 38-37 advantage at the 7:02 mark.

The Pirates were quick to respond, scoring the game’s next six points on a putback by Lauren Metzger, pull-up jumper by Bailey Morris after beating Garfield’s press and a short jumper in the middle of the paint by Jenna Canale on an out-of-bounds play. 

The 6-0 run shifted Southeast into the lead again at 43-38.

From that point forward, Garfield rallied to finish the game on a 15-3 run. Cardinal was at the forefront of the spark, connecting on an and-one finish in the lane followed by a 3-pointer on the left wing on the next possession to tie the game at 43-43.

Kaelyn Tasker scored on a short jumper, then Payton Soltis ripped a steal and delivered a gorgeous on-time pass to a cutting Tasker in transition for another layup to make Garfield’s lead 49-44.

Canale connected on another mid-range shot to cut it to 49-46. Charlee Hill hit another free throw for the G-Men to make it 50-46 with 36.5 to play, but Southeast’s ensuing possessions to cut into the lead were unsuccessful and Garfield connected at the line to close things out.

“I think this win has the potential to be big for our girls,” Gilbert said. “To win at home and to do it against Southeast is a big deal. And we had not been able to finish games so this win covered a lot for us and what we could be going forward.”

Cardinal led the G-Men (2-1, 2-0 MVAC) in scoring with 11 points, with seven coming in the fourth quarter. She posted a solid all-around game, adding nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and one blocked shot.

Tasker joined her in double figures with 10 points, while Riley Grace scored nine and Payton Soltis added eight points and four steals.

“Kaelyn had some big moments for us tonight and Payton is just such a fireplug when she comes into the game,” Gilbert said. “It started over the summer and has continued that when she is on the floor, good things happen.”

Southeast was led offensively by Canale, who led all scorers with 19 points. She also had seven rebounds. Morris finished with eight points and eight rebounds for the Pirates (4-2, 0-2 MVAC).