By Lisa Byers
February 5, 2010 — COCHRANTON — For the first time in 16 seasons, a team other than Saegertown, Maplewood or Lakeview is going to win the Region 3 girls basketball championship.
But just which team it is that steps up and steals the thunder remains to be seen. The Cochranton Cardinals, however, are hoping after nearly three decades that they might finally be that team.
Of course, the Cardinals know the only way to make that happen is to take care of business themselves and then hope for a little bit of help. Cochranton accomplished the first part of that task on Thursday.
Cochranton avenged one of its three region losses of the season with a huge 39-26 win over Maplewood last night at the Bird Cage.
The Cardinals remain just two games back of Linesville and Conneaut Valley for first place in Region 3 with the win as they improved to 11-6 overall and 7-3 in the region.
Maplewood, meanwhile, fell to 7-9 overall and 5-5 in the region and remains in a tight battle with Cambridge Springs and Mercer for a District 10 Class AA at-large playoff berth.
“We know we’re still in this thing,” Cochranton senior guard Nicole White said. “Everyone is so close. Anyone can win a game, so we still have a chance.”
Just how bad the Cardinals wanted that chance didn’t become obvious until late in the third quarter against the Tigers. That’s when Cochranton went on a 12-0 run over the final three minutes and 27 seconds of the period to take a 33-20 lead. Prior to that, the Cardinals led by as many as six, but could never put the Tigers away.
The key for Cochranton over key run was taking advantage of Maplewood’s foul trouble. Emily Ray and Nicole Brunot were both saddled with their fourth fouls during the run, which relegated them to the bench.
That forced assistant coach Ben Mangus — filling in for head coach Ryan Mumau, who was absent due to a family commitment — to dig deep into a bench that was already missing Cassy Snyder due to injury.
“We finally realized we had them in foul trouble,” Cochranton coach Gary Egli said. “Then we were able to get into the post a little bit to get them out of there. We understood the game plan from the beginning and executed to get them in foul trouble.
“The girls came to play (last night). They worked hard the last two days after (the loss to Linesville).”
While the Cards did their job to get Maplewood’s offensive weapons out of the game, it was White who really made the Tigers pay. White was the first player to get in foul trouble in the game when she was hit with her second midway through the first quarter and went to the bench for the remainder of the half.
She more than made up for it in the third quarter, scoring all but two of the Cardinals’ 13 points during their 13-0 run.
“Maybe I ought to sit her more often,” Egli said jokingly. “It’s kind of been that way all year; not just with (White), but all three of our starting guards. Seems like they’ll be having a bad game and then the next thing you know they’re the ones that are on.”
It is no guarantee Region 3 will be awarded a second Class AA berth in the District 10 playoffs, In order to be considered, the Tigers now find themselves in a near must-win situation over the last four games. Maplewood holds just a game lead over Cambridge Springs within the region. In Region 2, Wilmington and Mercer both entered last night’s action tied up at 4-3 in their region.
“The second Double-A team in our region is wide open,” Mangus said. “There is still a lot for us to play for this year. We can’t quit.”
White finished with 12 points to lead the Cardinals. Krystal Kline added seven points and nine rebounds.
Samantha Long had 14 points to lead Maplewood. Ray had five points and nine rebounds.
