By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

A slow start for, and a 15-14 halftime lead by, Garfield Dec. 29 against Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in the Canfield South Range Holiday Tournament prompted head coach Aaron Gilbert to make some minor tweaks at the break.

The result?

A 31-23 lead after three quarters for the G-Men that wound up as a 45-28 victory. They are now 5-3 on the season.

Leading the way for Garfield was senior shooting guard Mandy Cardinal, who scored 15 points with eight rebounds, three assists and five steals. Nice stats but pedestrian compared to what she achieved two days earlier against Brookfield — a school-record 42-points that broke her own mark of 38 set last season and surpassing 1,000 points in her career.

“Mandy also rebounded well against Cardinal Mooney,” Gilbert said. “She also got everybody involved and played much better defense in the second half.”

Also for the G-Men, sophomore guard Payton Soltis contributed nine points, two rebounds, two assists and five steals.

STREETSBORO

Guard Ma’Ryah McIntosh scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half Dec. 22 in leading the Streetsboro girls basketball team to a 45-38 triumph at home over Chagrin Falls as the Rockets upped their season record to 7-1.

The best part for head coach Carl Singer and his staff?

McIntosh is only a freshman.

“We put Ma’Ryah on Chagrin Falls’ best player,” Singer said. “She did a nice job with her at the beginning, was able to turn some defense into offense with some steals, made a couple nice shots on the offensive end.”

The home team was challenged by the Tigers somewhat but was never in any serious danger, leading 17-8 after the first quarter, 29-16 at the half and 37-27 after three quarters.

“In the first half, it felt like we played well. We executed our gameplan, did a lot of things we wanted to do on both ends of the court, so we were pretty happy at halftime,” said the coach.

“In the second half, it seemed like we couldn’t really get things going on offense. Our defensive effort wasn’t quite as strong as in the first half. Credit to Chagrin Falls. They hit some big shots and kept themselves in the game.”

Senior forward Ava Bodovetz led Streetsboro with 10 points.

“Ava brought really good energy for us in this game,” said Singer.

Even with the loss to graduation of three players — most notably Ohio’s Division IV Player of the Year Naomi Benson who is now competing in the Big Ten at the University of Illinois — Singer feels good about his team’s prospects the remainder of the season.

“We’ve played it pretty well up to this point,” he said. “We just have to keep improving with the challenges we’re going to have ahead. I think we can compete not only to repeat as (Metro Athletic) conference champions, but also make it to the regional finals for a third straight year. We’re not as talented as last season. I mean, you can’t lose a Division I college player and expect to still be as talented, but we have a lot of good pieces. If the girls are willing to play harder and more consistently, I think we have a shot to do pretty much anything.”

ROOTSTOWN

It’s hard to imagine what Colbie Curall can do when healthy.

After all, the Rootstown senior guard, who was under the weather, posted a double-double Dec. 29 in leading the Rovers to a 49-42 win at home over Cortland Maplewood in upping their record to 7-2. Curall had 21 points and 12 rebounds to go with two assists and two steals for good measure.

“Colbie really played hard,” head coach Joe Leonard said. “She’s a super athletic scorer and does a really nice job. We’ve asked her to be more of a distributor in the offense, and she’s done a nice job doing that. She’s kind of learning on the fly as she goes along, but she’s done well the last few games.”

The Rovers were leading 12-11 after one quarter and 24-22 at the intermission before increasing their lead to a dozen points early in the third quarter. The Rockets cut their deficit to 37-31 entering the fourth period.

“It was certainly competitive and close, but they never really overtook us,” said Leonard. “That’s a very talented team.”

Pacing Rootstown was junior point guard Elliott Smallfield, who had 11 points, three assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

“Offensively, Elliott did a nice job,” said the coach. “Defensively, we ask her to guard the toughest opponent night in and night out, and she does a great job and looks forward to that challenge. We can really rest assured that she’s going to give 100 percent effort executing the defensive gameplan.”

AURORA

A win is a win.

So said head coach Erika Greenberg of her Aurora team’s 48-38 victory Dec. 29 at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.

The Greenmen improved to 9-3 on the season.

“I thought we played okay,” Greenberg said. “We struggled scoring the ball a little bit, our shooting percentage wasn’t great. I thought defensively we played really well.”

After a 10-10 tie after one quarter, Aurora shut out the Royals 11-0 in the second quarter to forge ahead 21-10 at the half. Aurora’s lead dipped to five points at 34-29 after three quarters, but the game’s victor was never really in doubt.

“Holding them scoreless in the second quarter was huge for us,” said Greenberg. “We’re happy with the win.”

Leading the way were guards Addison Witting, a senior (14 points), and Jillian Monastero, a junior (10 points).

“Addison did a good job attacking the rim and she was able to hit some outside shots. She had a nice mid-range game,” said the coach. “Jillian did a really good job – was a nuisance – on the offensive boards. She was all over the glass.”

WINDHAM

After starting the season with nine losses, Windham finally notched win No. 1 on Dec. 22 in a 30-20 triumph at home over Fairport Harbor Harding.

Head coach Jimie Collins and his players, who led from start to finish, were understandably elated when the final buzzer sounded.

“I gave them a little bit of a halftime speech,” he said, “and they came out in the second half and played a lot better. We kind of pulled away.”

The key to the Bombers’ tough season has been poor shooting.

“I think we’re averaging just more than 11 percent from the floor,” said Collins, “and we’re averaging around 55 shots per game.”

Accounting for the majority of Windham’s points were sophomore shooting guard Makenna Jones (9 points), senior power forward Brielle Jones (8 points) and sophomore point guard Kierrha Sanders (7 points).

“All three girls cashed in on a few good looks,” the coach said, “but they all played nearly flawless on the defensive end. They created a lot of ball pressure and a lot of turnovers.”

FIELD

Field struggled from the field in the first half of its 36-32 loss Dec. 22 at Cuyahoga Falls.

“We couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean,” head coach John Misenko said, whose team fell to 5-5 on the season.

Despite the Falcons’ poor shooting in the first two quarters, they were down by only three points —14-11 — at halftime.

“We got every shot we wanted in the first half,” said Misenko. “Cuyahoga Falls played a zone and let us shoot the basketball, and we had three points in the first quarter. They only had 14 points at the half, and we were losing. I told my coaches, ‘We set basketball back 10 years.’ It was just one of those things. If we make 20 percent of the shots we missed, the game is totally different.”

The Black Tigers came out of the second-half gate strong and had a double-figure lead in the third quarter.

“Then we decided to play basketball,” the coach said.

The visitors cut the Black Tigers’ lead to eight points at 23-15 entering the fourth quarter and nearly completed the comeback before falling short.

“I think if we had another minute or two, maybe we could’ve pulled it off,” said Misenko.

“Their best player had 16 or 17 points. We didn’t do a good job guarding her in the first half. In the second, half she got some points from the free-throw line because we had to foul to try to get back in the game. I had three girls foul out, so that didn’t help our situation. It just wasn’t a great game for us.”

Sophomore guard Audrey Richmond scored 12 points, including three 3-pointers, and six rebounds, while senior guard Morgan Stoicoiu had 10 points, six boards and five assists.

“Audrey and Morgan are my two main scorers. We kind of go as they go. When we play really, really well and we score a lot of points, both of them play really well,” Misenko said.

Senior forwardNema McAmis pulled down 11 rebounds, and freshman guard Alison Church had nine rebounds.

“The girls play hard, they don’t quit,” said the coach. “We’re young and we’re inexperienced. Unfortunately, that’s not going to change. Obviously, as the season goes on, we’re getting more experience and we’re getting a little bit more comfortable.”

RAVENNA

Old habits are hard to break.

Ravenna head coach DaVante McKinney pointed to his team’s 55-17 home defeat Dec. 29 to Niles McKinley as a perfect example as the Ravens slipped to 4-7 on the season.

“It was turnovers. We had 25 or 26 of them,” he said, indicating the Ravens’ propensity thus far this season of gifting their opponents the ball. “I don’t think McKinley is 38 points better than us. McKinley played its game and executed. We did a lot of bad things to help that score to get to where it was at the end.”

Despite the rout, McKinney is happy with his squad’s season so far.

“We’re in a way better place than the team was last season,” he said. “We’ve already won four games. Last season’s team won five all season.”

Senior guard Miriyha Sandifer scored 11 points.

MOGADORE

Mogadore was a Division VII state semifinalist last season.

This season, the Wildcats are 4-7 at the midway point of the regular season. That’s what happens when you lose to graduation three-fifths of your starting lineup — 40 points and 20

rebounds per game combined.

“We’re young and inexperienced, but also hurt and sick,” head coach Jen Ritch said of her squad that most recently was routed 75-21 on Dec. 29 at Canal Fulton Northwest.

“That team was just better than us,” said Ritch. “They have 10 seniors. They’re probably a state-tournament-bound team, and we’re not. My players work hard, but it’s going to end that way for a lot of games this season because we beat a lot of teams last season, and they didn’t like that.”

Senior guard Rylee Clark scored 10 points, while junior guard Kasey Bolyard chipped in six.

WATERLOO

Waterloo’s 47-24 loss Dec. 27 at Coventry was not exactly a surprise. The Vikings have yet to find the win column in 11 games this season. However, the 23-point margin of defeat was a significant improvement over some of their other losses this season.

Head coach Nicole Lewis attributed her team’s woes this season to youth and inexperience. The roster is made up of mainly sophomores and freshmen.

“These girls didn’t really have a youth program, so we’re just trying our best,” Lewis said. “We’re improving, though — little things here and there. Coventry was just a rough game in

general for everybody. I was missing (sophomore point guard) Alexis Henry, our leading scorer,

who was out of town, so that impacted us a lot.”

About the only bright spot for Waterloo was senior shooting guard Jade Martins, who scored nine points.

“Jade hustles, gives me energy and effort up and down the court. She plays the whole game,” said Lewis. “She very rarely comes out, and when she does, it’s because she’s in foul trouble. She’s almost my leading rebounder being a shooting guard. She’s just all over the place. She might not necessarily be my leading scorer every game, but she’s doing other things on the court that really impact the team.”