BOARDMAN OH- Howland and Boardman both came in to Saturday’s matchup on winning streaks. Boardman had won three in a row, and 4 of their last 5. Howland on the other end had won 6 in a row, and 10 of their last 11. On this day, it was Howland that would continue winning. They charged through Boardman 68-38.
The Tigers had four players in double figures in their impressive performance. They were paced by Taylor Lawrence, and Alyssa Pompelia who both scored 15 points. Jamie DeSalvo finished with 11 while Alyssa Massucci added 10.
Boardman was led by Mackenzie Riccitelli who scored 11. Ava Freeborough put together a solid day as well adding 8.
Howland moves on to matchup with Warren Harding to continue AAC play. Boardman will go to Austintown Fitch on Wednesday.
Postgame Interview With Aaron Pounds:
Postgame Interview With Taylor Lawrence:
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/C58B3555-3E9C-4D85-831E-B4A93A4BCF57-scaled.jpeg17052560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-23 18:48:472023-07-14 23:40:09TIGERS BARREL THROUGH BOARDMAN
BOARDMAN, OH- The Boardman keglers defeated the Howland Tigers by a score of 2358-1989 on Wednesday at Boardman Lanes.
The match medalist for the Spartans was Kaitlyn Greenaway, shooting games of 211 and 203 for a 414 set. Behind her was teammate Sam Hoffman, rolling games of 163 and 246 for a 409 set.
Other contributors for the Spartans were Grace Oklota with games of 180 and 200 for a 380 set, Alayna Turillo with games of 168 and 168 for a 336 set, and Marissa Funk with games of 191 and 138 for a 329 set.
The leading scorer for Howland was Gillian McMurray, shooting games of 260 and 129 for a 389 set.
*Story contributed by Justine Cullen and BoardmanAthletics.org
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/images-11.jpg177284YSN Staffhttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngYSN Staff2022-01-20 17:02:112022-01-20 17:02:11BOARDMAN LIGHTS UP THE LANES OVER HOWLAND
YOUNGSTOWN, OH- On a cold, blustery, winter night, the Spartans heated up the pool by defeating Howland and Poland at Beeghly Natatorium. “Our kids were a bit tired but they knew they would be racing two quality opponents. Poland and Howland both have many fast athletes and there were some very good races. Our depth paid off in the end,” mentioned Coach Cordon.
Double event winners for the Spartans include freshman Petra Crnjak in the 500 Free (6:14.18) and the 100 Breaststroke (1:11.35), junior Alexis Mihok in the 50 Free (25.99) and the 100 Free (56.85), and junior Madison Murphy in the 200 IM (2:17.02) and the 100 Backstroke (1:02.42).
The single event winner for the Spartans was freshman Gina DiNapoli in the 100 Butterfly (1:04.24).
The Spartans won the 200 Medley Relay (Madison Murphy, Petra Crnjak, Gina DiNapoli, and Alexis Mihok) in a time of 1:57.35 and the 400 Freestyle Relay (Madison Murphy, Abbi Mihok, Petra Crnjak, and Morgan Russo) in a time of 4:02.89.
The Spartans record now stands at 7-2 as they head into this Friday’s quad-meet at Beeghly Natatorium vs state powerhouses Akron Firestone, Solon, and Shaker Heights.
*Story contributed by Chelsea D’Angelo and BoardmanAthletics.org
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DSC_2464-scaled.jpg17042560YSN Staffhttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngYSN Staff2022-01-19 15:29:232022-01-19 15:29:23BOARDMAN TANKERS TAKE OVER
HOWLAND OH- Howland has quickly become one of the most exciting girls basketball programs in the area. They have a great mix of young talent, and experienced veterans. One of those senior leaders that makes their team so dynamic is Jamie DeSalvo.
Jamie DeSalvo is what you would call a pure athlete. And her athleticism makes her a big weapon for the Tigers. She can post up if you need her too, but she’s not without the ability to beat defenders off the dribble. Her first step will take you for surprise that is for sure. But even more important than her athleticism to her team is her leadership. DeSalvo has acquired tremendous leadership skills that make her like a second coach On the floor. That is something not every program has, but would the Tigers definitely do.
DeSalvo took the time to talk with Anthony Hartwig to discuss her basketball journey. They chat about her senior season, being a multiple sports athlete, and so much more. Don’t miss this exclusive interview with one of Howland’s biggest leaders.
HOWLAND OH- If you go to a Howland girls basketball game, you will be instantly introduced to the talent that is Alyssa Pompelia. The senior always makes an impact every time she steps on the floor. That’s one of the reasons she has been able to eclipse the 1000 point barrier in her career. That feat was accomplished in the Tigers game against Canfield. A game that was not only special for the milestone, but carried extreme weight in the AAC standings. The Tigers won 40-38.
Head coach Aaron Pounds raves about Alyssa’s work ethic. She has put in the time to get where she is. That’s one of the things that makes her a great leader. Girls on the team are able to watch her, and see what it takes. The standard has been set for everyone in the Howland program. Pompelia and her fellow leaders have turned the Tigers into one of the premiere girls basketball programs in the area.
Pompelia can also add winning Baird Brothers Big Dog of the Valley to her list of accomplishments. The Howland community showed how much they have her back by voting her to the top spot.
Anthony Hartwig, and Ty Bartell had the chance to have Alyssa on Running Point to talk about her senior season, winning Big Dogs, and so much more. Check out this exclusive Howland girls basketball player profile only on YSN.
Presented By
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/72068721-4D6F-4554-849C-A29F0595C0F8.jpeg15032381Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-16 07:27:032023-07-14 23:32:33POMPELIA PACKS A PUNCH
CANFIELD OH- The talk of the town on Wednesday was the girls basketball matchup between Howland, and Canfield. Not only did the game carry a heavy weight in the AAC standings, it also had aspersions of being a milestone performance for Howland senior Alyssa Pompelia. Alyssa needed just 5 points coming in to reach the 1000 bench mark in her career. She got it before halftime. The Tigers would then go on to cap off the night with a tight win over Canfield 40-38.
Pompelia didn’t stop at 5 points, she led the Tigers with 12.
Alyssa Dill led the Cardinals with a game high 14 points, Abby Muckleroy was also in double figures with 11.
There’s no rest for the Tigers they return home on Thursday to host Mooney. Canfield will stay at home on Saturday to host Chaney.
Postgame Interview With Alyssa Pompelia:
Postgame Interview With Aaron Pounds:
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/94920346-EF76-4F81-A9FD-82A63DED0627-scaled.jpeg15362560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-13 16:46:362023-07-14 23:30:43HOWLAND CLAWS OUT VICTORY ON A MILESTONE NIGHT
HOWLAND CENTER, OH – After a 6-2 start to the season, Howland went on a little bit of a downhill slump, losing three in a row to drop to 6-5. The Tigers, however, used that motivation to put up a strong second half en route to a 71-65 upset victory over the high-powered 8-2 Louisville Leopards. Coach Dan Bubon was really excited about the victory, as Louisville can arguably be considered to be the toughest team on their schedule.
“It feels great. I don’t know if that’s the best team we’ll play all year, but I really don’t think anyone’s better than them that we’ll play on our schedule, and they’re very good. They play a tough schedule. They were 8-2 coming in. #1 [Will Aljancic] is a really good player, #24 [Hayden Nigro] is a really good player, #22 [Tyler Bolden] hit eight three’s tonight. That is an excellent team and, coming off three losses, going into this game, we just felt like, “Let’s just play well, let’s just play well, let’s just play well,’ and we had the lead and played well with the lead, which we struggled with in some other games, so everything about it was great.”
Throughout the majority of the night, the game was basically a story of runs. After Howland fell behind 17-10 in the second, they would put up a strong 17-4 run to end the half to take a 27-21 run heading into the locker room. That first-half lead would have not been possible if it were not for Howland’s better scorer, who would get 18 points in the first half off of six three’s. He would finish the game with a season-high of 36. Bubon remembers the long road that Massucci had to endure as he is at the midway point of his senior season.
“I mean, especially with what he came off of, with a knee injury last year and missing half of the year, and then getting injured again in the preseason this year. He didn’t even start practicing until about a week and a half before our season started, so I mean he has given everything he has. He’s really playing on knees a lot of kids probably wouldn’t play on. He’s a heck of a competitor, he’s a really smart basketball player, and our other guys are really learning how to play with him on offense, how to set him up, because if you get him open, he’s going to make shots, and then when teams start to lunge out on him, he’s a great passer, so he’s getting other guys great shots.”
Louisville was not without their runs, though, as when they went down 33-24 in the third, they would then go on a 11-0 run to take a 35-33 lead, thanks to the help of some terrific outside shooting, including Tyler Bronson’s eight threes. Bronson would go on to lead the Leopards with 25 in one of the best games of his life. Will Aljancic also helped chip in from beyond the arc as he was another player to score in double digits for the Leopards. This was something that Coach Bubon was expecting as he knew how great of a shooting game Louisville has.
“They were going to hit shots. Yeah, we played the box-and-one on #1 [Aljancic]. #1 [Aljancic], outside of Anthony, is the best player I have seen this year, from watching film of all the other teams. #1 [Aljancic] is just tremendous, so we just played that box-and-one to not let him get going. When he gets going, it just feels like he’s never going to stop scoring, so that bothered him, now some of their other guys stepped up and hit shots, but we just felt like if we could still just stay on #1 [Aljancic] and not let him shoot, then the other guys will cool off at some point.
The Tigers with the win will improve to 7-5 on the year, snapping their three-game losing streak as they will improve to 7-3 in non-conference play. They go back to conference play on Friday as they will travel to Fitch. The Tigers are currently 0-2 in the conference, but Bubon believes that his team will be right on track come Friday.
“Well, it’s always a battle at Fitch. Coach [Brian] Beany and I go way back, I mean we played during the same era back in the late ‘80’s, so it’s always a battle at Fitch. He’s always going to have them ready. I think we’re usually going to be ready to play them, and it’s usually about who executes better, so hopefully that’s us, but everything game is new, so we have got to go get ready two days and play.”
The Leopards will drop to 8-2 overall, having dropped their second in three tries. They will look to get back in the win column on Saturday as they will play Woodridge in the Spectrum Orthopaedics Classic down at Hoover. The game is slated for a 3:00 P.M. tip.
YSN’s Noah Ricks got a chance to talk to winning coach Dan Bubon following tonight’s contest. You can watch the full interview below.
HOWLAND CENTER, OH – It was a highly anticipated rivalry that both teams needed to win to stay on track in the AAC, but it was Warren Harding who held the edge, holding off their fierce rival in the Howland Tigers by a final score of 61-59 on Friday night. This was considering the fact that the Raiders did not even play a game in three weeks due to rising COVID-19 cases amid the ongoing pandemic. Coach Keelyn Franklin was excited that they came off the hiatus with the nail biting victory over their big rival.
“It’s huge, it’s huge. I mean anytime you’re out for that amount of time, you know, to come out and get a win, that first game back is huge, especially a conference game for one, and against Howland, who is, you know, our rival, so it’s huge for us moving forward.”
Harding had a strong start to the contest with an 11-6 lead, but Howland came storming back and ended the first quarter on a 9-4 run to be locked at 15-15 at the end of the period. In the second period, Howland continued a big stretch to go on top 24-17 with the help of guys like Alex Henry, who would end up leading the Tigers with 19 as a young sophomore. Harding used a strong transition game and aggressive running towards the ball to help end the first half strong. They went on a 15-5 run, which included a Jacob Lawrence buzzer beater from downtown, to end the half with a 32-29 lead.
The Raiders used the second half to make Howland work from behind. A key goal for the Raiders was to lock down Howland’s best scorer Anthony Massucci, who was held to single-digits until the fourth quarter. It was an even third-quarter with 13 points by each side as it was 45-42 at the end of three. As Howland came back to tie the game up at 52-52, Harding would use a mid-range jumper from Lawrence and a putback to go on top 56-52. There was still a ton of fight left in the Tigers as Henry hit a crucial three-pointer and Massucci connected on two important free throws to put Howland up by one. Coach Franklin paid attention to the amount of adversity that his team had to endure.
“I just told them we’ve got to stay locked in. I mean a lot of times when adversity hits, we kind of go in the opposite direction that we should and we kind of strayed away from each other and come apart instead of together, and I think that’s what we did tonight, is we kind of just banded together when adversity hit and understood that we had to continue to get stops and try to take care of the ball on the other end and get as many good looks as possible. Staying together was key.”
The Raiders were not able to finish off without the heroics of Tyriq Ivory. He was called on to shoot free throws for Harding in the final minute of the contest. He would make clutch shots, which was vital in the two-point victory. Franklin really appreciated how he stepped up down the stretch.
“Tyriq, he was great tonight. He’s one of those athletes, when he gets going, he’s tough to deal with. He’s a dynamic type of athlete, so to see him have that success wasn’t a surprise to me. It’s something that we expect from him, but I was glad to see him have that success for sure.”
The Raiders with the win will improve to 3-4 on the year as they start off their conference slate with a 1-0 mark. They will play another pivotal conference game on Tuesday as they will head back home to take on another fierce rival in the Austintown Fitch Falcons. Coach Franklin is aware of the intensity that will show up in the Harding gym on Tuesday night and will prepare heavily.
“We’ll watch some film tomorrow. We’ll get up in the morning, watch some film, get some shots up. We’re familiar with each other, we played each other, I don’t know, maybe seven or eight times in the summer, so I think they know us well, we know them well, so it’s going to come down to who’s the tougher team and who executes better.”
The Tigers will drop to 6-5 overall, having dropped their third straight after a 6-2 start. They will start their grueling conference schedule with an 0-2 start. They will stay home on Tuesday as they will look to snap their losing skid in a non-conference outing with Louisville.
YSN’s Noah Ricks got a chance to talk to winning coach Keelyn Franklin following tonight’s contest. You can watch the full interview below.
Postgame Interview With Keelyn Franklin:
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/83FD7250-4FF2-4CCE-A992-D3F7784E49FB-scaled.jpeg17072560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-09 05:40:172023-07-14 23:24:58RAIDERS HAND HEARTBREAKER TO HOWLAND
WARREN, OH – After having a tough stretch of games in the remaining weeks of 2021, the Boardman Spartans were looking to get back in the win column in 2022 with a victory over the Howland Tigers Tuesday night. The Spartans were able to hit the reset button with great defensive play and shooting from deep (9 three-pointers) to propel them to a 65-47 victory over the Tigers.
For Boardman, Luke Ryan led the team with 22 points on the night. Behind him was Trey DePietro who added 15 for the Spartans.
For Howland, Anthony Massucci led the way with 19 points on the night.
Boardman will be back in action on Friday, as they are set to host Austintown Fitch. Howland will also be back in action on Friday as they will host Warren Harding. Don’t miss it on YSN!
*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EA18F7E0-5F3A-42FA-935D-5233C71E3143.jpeg7961228Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-06 04:18:522023-07-14 23:21:14BOARDMAN BOUNCES BACK IN A BIG WAY
HOWLAND CENTER, OH – 1-4 may seem like a disappointing start on paper, but Howland girls’ coach Aaron Pounds believes that his team is playing strong to start their season. That mentality showed as the Tigers beat the Louisville Leopards 69-65 on their home floor Saturday. Although the Leopards were 5-1 coming into the contest, this is exactly what Pounds expected from his girls.
“I don’t think it was an upset, and I don’t think our season starting off was that disappointing, if I’m being honest with you,” Pounds told YSN’s Noah Ricks. “Anybody that looks at our schedule can see that we played some really, really quality teams, and it actually prepared us for a game like tonight. I think Hoover has been undefeated, Salem was 6-0 at one point, Massillon Perry, their only loss was to Canfield. We got Ursuline, now we just got Louisville, so Louisville was 5-1 coming into here. Our schedule’s been really, really brutal. First game, we lost by one, so disappointing in the fact because of the record, maybe a little bit, but every single game these girls have played hard.”
The Tigers had three players score in double figures against the Leopards. Along with Alyssa Pompelia’s 16 and Taylor Lawrence’s 19 came a dominant 22-point night from sophomore Alyssa Massucci, arguably the best game of her career. She attacked the glass aggressively as layups were going in left and right. Pounds believes that this was the night where she showed her true potential.
“She’s had a couple of games where she’s missed a couple of shots, missed a couple of bunnies. She made them tonight, she knocked them down. We got her a couple of minutes in JV. The last two games, she’s lit up JV in one quarter, so I think that kind of gave her some confidence, ready to come in and play tonight, even though she’s a Varsity starter. We’ve been kind of hit with injuries, a little bit of the flu bug, and we’re down to 13 girls. We lost another one tonight, so we’re down to like 12 girls right now, so that’s the reason we played one of our Varsity starters. She’s only a sophomore, she only played a quarter of JV, so we needed it. That really built up our confidence.”
Howland built up a strong lead in the fourth as they went ahead by fifteen at 58-43, but Louisville came storming out as their hot-shooting girls pushed the lead down to as little as five. Coach Pounds wanted to regroup after they were not able to stop shots from the free throw line throughout most of the night. He wanted to tell his girls one important thing.
“I was telling them, be patient, work the ball, be smart, and nothing but a layup. There’s no reason to fire up threes, there’s no reasons to shoot a bad shot, nothing but a layup. Don’t lose your aggressiveness. You know, when we broke the press, we still attacked the rim and we got a couple of easy layups and we made a couple of free throws at the line. That’s been kind of an Achille heels for us, too, is we missed a lot of free throws in the first couple of games. ”
The Lady Tigers with the win will improve to 2-4 on the year, a record which matches their mark in non-league play. They will stay home on Wednesday to play their first AAC game of the year against a powerful Boardman team. Pounds knows the importance of this game as he was telling this to his girls in the locker room.
“That’s a league game. We start our league Wednesday. I actually just told the girls that. It’s almost a new season. We’re 0-0 going into the league, so I want to win the league, I think Boardman, it’s not an easy league. We have got some good quality teams up there, so we have got to come ready to play. Our schedule early on has really prepared us to get ready to come in here and play our league, so we will be ready to go.”
The Leopards, on the other hand, will only drop their second game of the year as they drop to 5-2 overall. They will go back home on Wednesday as they play host to Akron Coventry.
