Thursday, February 22nd, 2018
Cavs cruise past Panthers
By Dave Stilwell
MIDDLE POINT - After finishing the regular season with 14 straight wins, the Coldwater Cavaliers showed no signs of letting off the gas as the second season got underway.
Coldwater raced out to a 17-2 first-quarter lead and then cruised to a 56-33 win over the Paulding Panthers in the girls Division III Sectional Semifinals on Wednesday night at Lincolnview High School.
Now 18-5, the second-seeded Cavaliers earned a trip back to Lincolnview to take on Allen East (11-11) in the finals Saturday at 8 p.m.
Allen East advanced with a convincing 49-34 victory over Fairview in the first semifinal game Wednesday.
Coldwater got a three-pointer from Olivia Harlamert on its first possession and never looked back.
Seven combined points from Maura Hoying and Kourtney Diller, along with a pair of free throws by Lauren Gilliland, put the Cavaliers up 12-0 before Paulding finally dented the scoreboard with 2:12 left in the first quarter.
Having ended the regular season eight days ago, Coldwater coach Connie May was pleased that her team showed up without any rust spots.
"It was nice to see us get out and get going," May said. "It's always hard after you haven't played for a week, when you're used to playing every other day since the beginning of January.
"We kid of felt like we started okay and then in the second quarter our defense kind of slacked off a little," she added.
The Cavaliers opened the second quarter with a 5-1 run to take a 22-3 lead but then lacked a knockout punch.
The Panthers got their inside game going with Briana Townley and Cassidy Posey working free in the paint to match buckets with the Cavaliers.
But when Paulding went from its zone defense to a man-to-man, no one in a Panther jersey could stay with Hoying off the dribble.
The Coldwater senior slashed her way to the basket, scoring the final eight points of the half to put the Cavs up 30-16 at the break.
"It's nice to see Maura take control out there, doing the things we need her to do both on the offensive and defensive ends," May said. "But all the girls came ready to play, and everybody did a little bit of something. That's what we need to keep the girls buying into."
Despite some chilly second half shooting, Coldwater maintained an 18-point lead at the end of the third quarter and slowly pulled away in the fourth.
Hoying finished with 18 points to lead all scorers. Diller and Gilliland each had nine for the Cavaliers.
Paulding finishes its season at 7-16 and was led in scoring by Audrey Manz with 10 points.
Against Allen East on Saturday, the Cavaliers will be facing their second straight Northwest Conference foe.
"It's going to be a good battle," May said of the sectional title game. "They took care of Fairview. The keys for us are going to be making sure we get a hand in the shooter's face and make sure we own the boards."
