Barberton, OH - On Tuesday night the Canfield Lady Cardinals took on the Marlington Lady Dukes at Barberton high school in a Division 2 / Region 5 Regional semi-final matchup.
Both of these teams look to advance in the playoffs, with the winner of this game moving on to play the winner of the matchup between CVCA and Canal Fulton Northwest.
Right out of the gates the Lady Cardinals started hot, putting up 13 points in the first off the back of back-to-back-to-back three pointers from senior Abby Muckleroy while creating turnovers and playing phenomenal defense.
The Lady Dukes got off to a slow start only putting up one point in the first 3 minutes, but they were able to get a pair of free throws and a mid-range bucket ending the first quarter with Canfield in the lead 13-5.
Marlington came into the second quarter looking relatively the same, as they were constantly turning the ball over and not creating shots for themselves. They were only able to put up another five points in this quarter thanks to and and-1 that junior Chelsea Evanich was able to convert.
On the other side of the ball, the Lady Cardinals looked just as great in this quarter as they did in the first as Muckleroy and Macey Kalina were able to put up a pair of threes which helped extend their lead to 26-10 at the half.
Exiting halftime and entering the third quarter, the Lady Dukes were really going to have to step up their game if they wanted to have a comeback against the juggernaut that Canfield is.
Marlington in the third was a completely different team, as they were able to put up 14 points off the backs of Elizabeth Mason and Evanich who were able to combine for eight points.
Canfield did not look like the same team both offensively only putting up five points until the final minute of the quarter, while their defense was allowing the Lady Dukes to comeback as the third quarter ended 34-24 Canfield.
With the final quarter of this thrilling game underway, the Marlington Dukes didn't look the same as they did in the third quarter, and instead looked more like they did in the first half, as they were only able to put up seven points in the final frame.
Halfway through the fourth, it kind of felt like Canfield was doing more of a victory lap, as they only put up seven points themselves, mainly because of a three pointer from Muckleroy. They were playing such good defense that it didn't seem to matter as the Lady Cardinals took this one 41-31.
The MVP of the game was Abby Muckleroy, as she was able to put up 15 points on five three pointers to help her team to the big win and a trip to the Regional final.
Comments