Cardinal closed out the Berkshire Holiday Tournament with a 60-45 win over Wickliffe in the third place game on Friday.
Camille Cummins scored a team-high 17 points and also pulled down 14 rebounds to help the Huskies bounce back from Thursday’s first round loss to the host Badgers.
“This was an important victory for the team,” said Cardinal coach Luke Kruse. “After two tough losses in a row, including a deflating loss to our rival Berkshire the night before, this game was a major test for us mentally. We had a few lapses in the first half and Wickliffe pulled ahead to a 10-2 lead. We talked about those mistakes in a couple timeouts, re-focused, and pulled ahead going into the half with a nice burst of offense in an 18-point second quarter.”
Wickliffe’s Stephanie Martin scored a game-high 20 points, which helped the Blue Devils to pull ahead early in the contest.
Kruse adjusted his defense in the fourth quarter and Ashley Gubanyar locked down Martin, helping the Huskies pull away with a 15-3 run in the final eight minutes.
“(Gubanyar) did a gritty job denying Martin the ball and held her to just one point that quarter after having 19 through the first three,” Kruse said. “Wickliffe had a tough time getting anything and our stingy team defense held them to three points, which allowed us to pull ahead a bit.”
Gubanyar also pitched in with 15 points on the offensive end while Hanna Traggiai and Brittni Lawrence finished with seven and six, respectively.
Traggiai recorded a team-high seven assists and five steals.
“It was nice to see the girls having fun playing as a team,” Kruse said. “We had 20 assists as a team and found a great balance of passing to the open man when guarded and attacking the rim when we had space. Everyone that played significant minutes got to score and we had both (Cummins) and Ashley in double digits. (Cummins) had a monster game inside to finish with 17 points and 14 rebounds and Ashley had a huge second half attacking the rim and playing lockdown D. Hanna played a nice game with seven points, seven assists, four steals and zero turnovers and Virginia Travers also stepped up with a nice four point and four rebound contribution off the bench.”
Cummins joined Martin, LaBrae’s Jenna Reppart and Berkshire’s Rachel Breckenridge and Kayla White on the All-Tournament team.
“It’s such an honor to be recognized and I’m truly grateful that the little things are starting to pay off,” Cummins said. “After each loss, I think as a team we try to have a short-term memory and refocus for our next game the past is in the past and we can only worry about future games.”
Cardinal improved to 8-4 overall heading into the new year. The Huskies now have a 10-day break until they host Cuyahoga Heights on Jan. 10.
“It was great to get the ‘W’ going into our 10 days without a game,” Kruse said. “We’ll take a few days off and then get back at it. We reach the halfway point 8-4 and look forward to great things in 2018.”
Cardinal’s JV team won the junior varsity tournament at Berkshire.
Cardinal 60, Wickliffe 45
Wickliffe (3-5): Levon 15, B. Burkett 3, Stepanovic 4, Martin 20, Apgar 1, Sladky 2
Cardinal: Cummings 17, Trags 7, Gubanyer 15, Pollack 5, Travares 4, Naple 4, Lawrence 8
Wickliffe 13 12 17 3 — 45
Cardinal 9 18 18 15 — 60
Free throws: Wickliffe 10 of 22, Cardinal 7 of 12
