MIDDLEFIELD—Cardinal played stingy defense in the second half and made several key plays down the stretch to beat visiting Cuyahoga Heights on Wednesday, 37-24.
The win was the first for Cardinal over the Redskins since Cuyahoga Heights joined the Chagrin Valley Conference.
“I am so proud of the team,” Cardinal coach Luke Kruse said. “Outside of Berkshire, Cuyahoga Heights is the team that we’ve wanted to beat the most this year just because of our history of having close game after close game and coming up short year after year. We had this one circled at home, especially after we lost by three at their place. It’s one of our top games of the season that we wanted to be prepared for and the girls executed the game plan.”
With the game tied 19-19 at halftime, Cardinal stepped up on the defensive end and limited the Redskins to just two points in the third quarter as the Huskies took a 25-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
Ashley Gubanyar then drained back-to-back 3-pointers to lead the Huskies on a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter.
“That was big,” Kruse said. “The breathing room was huge. She made two big 3s which definitely opened it up for us and put the pressure on them. I thought they tensed up on their shots a little bit once we got that eight to 10 point lead.”
Cardinal’s defense continued to limit the Redskins on the offensive end of the floor.
Cuyahoga Heights scored just three points in the final eight minutes of play.
“The third quarter, we came out and they outplayed us,” Cuyahoga Heights coach Al Martin said. “It wasn’t a great third quarter for either team. Neither team seemed to want to score and then they got a runout layup, which I thought was a key, and we went 0-for-9 in the third quarter from the 3-point line and 1-for-15 in the second half. When you’re 5-foot-7 and under and you don’t make any perimeter shots you’re not going to win against a good basketball team and Cardinal is a good basketball team.”
Brittni Lawrence led Cardinal with a game-high 10 points. She scored eight in the first half to keep the Huskies in the game.
“Lawrence did a nice job hitting that elbow jumper,” Martin said. “She hit three of those elbow jumpers in the first half and that’s too many. We have to play more aggressively and make her put the ball on the floor.”
Camille Cummins contributed to the win with nine points and 11 rebounds. Adriana Naples finished with seven points, Gubanyar scored six and Annamarie Pollack added five for the Huskies.
“It was a big win for us,” Kruse said. “I’m just thrilled with the way we’ve been playing better and better as the season progressed. We were unselfish looking down the floor and didn’t force shots. We took the shots that were within our system and that the girls know are the shots they’re supposed to take.”
Makayla Spicer led the Redskins with nine points and Julia Harris finished with six.
Cardinal improved to 10-9 overall and 7-4 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division while Cuyahoga Heights dropped to 14-5, 10-3.
Cardinal 37, Cuyahoga Heights 24
Cardinal: Cummins 9, Gubanyar 6, Naples 7, Pollack 5, Lawrence 10
Cuyahoga Heights: Orlowski 3, Harris 6, Wilson 4, Spicer 9, Santiago 2
Cuyahoga Heights 11 8 2 3 — 24
Cardinal 10 9 6 12 — 37
Free throws: Cardinal 0 of 0, Cuyahoga Heights 1 of 2; 3-pointers: Cardinal 5 (Gubanyar 2, Cummins 1, Naples 1, Pollack 1), Cuyahoga Heights 3 (Harris 2, Orlowski 1)
