Cardinal used a 24-point second quarter to pull away from host Fairport Harding on Wednesday, 55-29.
The Huskies outscored the Skippers 24-10 in the second quarter and never looked back in improving to 9-5 overall and 3-3 in the Chagrin Valley Conference.
“The game plan tonight was to be relentless attacking the rim in transition and finding the gaps and points of attack against their zone defense,” said Cardinal coach Luke Kruse. “The girls did a fantastic job executing in the first half and we had a monster 24-point second quarter to get a nice lead going into the half. I thought we let up a little bit the second half, but it’s hard to fight against that when you have a big lead.”
Cardinal’s defense, led by Ashley Gubanyar, who posted a team-high six steals, fueled that second quarter run.
“The girls put a lot of pressure on Fairport defensively and didn’t allow them much opportunity to get into their half-court sets,” Kruse said. “Ashley did an especially fantastic job pressuring their point guard and ended up with six steals to get our transition game going. She added a game-high 14 points on the offensive end and had an impressive all-around performance.”
Junior Annamarie Pollack had her best game as a Husky by finishing with a career-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.
“Annamarie Pollack had a great game,” Kruse said. “We’ve all been encouraging her to shoot the ball more in games and she took it to heart tonight and shot the lights out. She put herself out there to take a charge and that kept the momentum going in the second quarter.”
Camille Cummins recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 11 points and 15 rebounds.
“It’s easy to take what Camille does for granted with her double-double average, but she works her but off on the boards and grabbed 15 to go along with five steals, three blocks and 11 points,” Kruse said. “Her consistency has been a major key for us all season and she’s a special player.”
The Huskies hope to carry this momentum into Saturday’s game at Hawken.
“I was proud of the girls tonight and the way they played as a team,” Kruse said. “We’ve got a tough stretch of CVC opponents coming up and look forward to our game at Hawken on Saturday afternoon.”
Cardinal 55, Fairport 29
Fairport (1-11): Urban 13 , Hucks 6, Yowell 3, Hagedoln 2 , Pumpias 3
Cardinal: Traggiai 10 , Gubanyar 14 , Pollack 14 , Cummins 13, Naples 4 , Lawrence 6, Dines 2
Cardinal 14 24 11 6 — 55
Fairport 10 10 3 6 — 29
Free throws: Fairport 7 of 10 Cardinal 10 of 14; 3-pointers: Fairport 2 (Yowell, Pumpias); Rebounds: Fairport 20 (urban 7); Assists: Fairport 7 (Hagedoln)
