HOBAN HANDS HOWLAND THEIR FIRST LOSS
By Ty Bartell
AKRON OH- On a fun-filled Wednesday night on the network, YSN provided multiple live coverage of games. Including a girls basketball battle between undefeated teams in The Archbishop Hoban Knights taking on The Howland Tigers! Both teams sported a perfect 3-0 record entering Wednesday; however, something was bound to give. The Tigers punched on The Knights to start the game, with Howland finding their shot early, The Tigers built a quick double-digit lead at 19-9 after the first quarter. The Knights would take the early Howland haymaker and deal a Knight knockdown blow of their own when Hoban outscored The TIgers 25-8 in the second quarter toi take a 34-27 lead into halftime. Spearheaded by Niera Stevens who scored 10 points in the quarter!
The Tigers would have their own double-digit deficit comeback when they chipped away at Hoban’s lead and brought it back to within one possession. After three quarters, The Knights would hold a slimmer advantage at 47-41. Hoban would have another good closeout quarter by winning the fourth quarter 19-11 and the game by a final of 66-52. Tayln Banta and Devin Harris were critical for The Knights in the close out minutes with Banta scoring 8 points and Harris scoring 6 points in the fourth.
Player of the game nod went to the senior Devin Harris who scored 8 points on the night, all in the second half, while being a force on the glass to help skew the rebounding battle back to even. Beyond that, Niera Stevens was slashing up the floor, scoring 19 points for Hoban in the win. Taylyn Banta and Amaria Davis each finished with 10 points while MacKenzie Edingburgh scored 8 points. Big Howland scorers included Alyssa Massucci who led her team with 16 points. Followed by Gia Hoso who scored 13 points and Jessie DeSalvo who scored 10 points.
Hoban (4-0) will now look ahead to this weekend where they will host their 3rd annual Hoban Hoopfest and battle the likes of Gilmour Academy (3-0) on Saturday and Toledo Central Catholic (2-0) on Sunday. Meanwhile, Howland (3-1) will have a week long layoff as their next matchup is slated for Wednesday, December 13th when they go back on the road to battle Ursuline (2-2).
