CARDS LOOK CRISP IN HOME OPENER
By Ty Bartell
CANFIELD OH- In the first full week of high school basketball on YSN, the girls basketball teams get to take center-stage for a majority of this week, with the boys tip-off set for Friday, December 1st. When talking about girls basketball locally, a few teams stick out as “teams to watch” this season. One of those teams being, none other than, the defending regional champs in Division 2, The Canfield Cardinals! Making a State Final Four appearance a year ago, The Cards are hoping to repeat the success that they got a taste of. Already a win under their belt prior to Monday’s matchup, The Cardinals got a taste of victory with an emphatic 65-16 win over The Wildcats at Struthers. This time, Canfield got to return home and took the battle to the skies when they hosted The Alliance Aviators.
Despite the 0-2 record The Aviators sported heading into Monday, they were very close in their two previous contests in coming away with a win. However, going to John Cullen Court and emerging victorious is no easy task and Alliance had their hands full. Canfield put the clamps down on defense and held Alliance to just 3 points in the first quarter, emerging with an early 14-3 lead with the three-point shot hitting with regularity for The Cards! A better scoring output in the second quarter by The Aviators helped them battle, but it was not enough, with Canfield extending their lead 34-14 at halftime.
The Cardinals kept the same unselfish tempo heading into the second half, turning defense into offense and sharing the wealth while on offense propelled Canfield to another impressive win, this time 58-27 to ground The Aviators and start Canfield’s season out with back-to-back wins! Cami Hritz was on fire early on and held her own on defense as she finished with 12 points. The sophomore Jenna Triveri was also active in the box score with 13 points of offense. But The Player of the Game was none other than Carly Fleming! FInishing with a game-high 16 points, Fleming was an absolute pest on defense, clogging passing lanes and winning mismatches all night long. Her efforts could not be overshadowed in another big win for The Cards!
Canfield (2-0) will now get some time off in-between games where they will look ahead to their next opponent when they host The 2022-2023 Pennsylvania State Champions in The Kennedy Catholic Golden Eagles (0-0) on Monday, December 4th at 7 p.m. in Canfield. Stay tuned with YSN for complete coverage of your Canfield Cardinals this basketball season with live games, scores, stats, stories and more!
