Barzak has hot hand as Tigers rout Leopards

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The Howland junior was
10-for-10 from the field in the 61-22 win.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LIBERTY — Howland High's junior forward Kelly Barzak said she felt really good while warming up prior to the Tigers non-conference road game with Liberty.

Barzak went out and hit her first seven shots and two free throws in the first quarter and finished a perfect 10-for-10 from the field for 22 points to lead Howland (4-0) to a 61-22 victory over the Leopards.

"I felt good today," Barzak said. "We've been working really hard at practice and watching tapes on our opponents and we felt like we could definitely go inside with our height advantage with me and Lexi [Alexa Williams]."

Barzak is listed at 6-foot while Williams stands 6-1 and the duo easily gave the Tigers an advantage in the paint against a small and quick Liberty team.

"Boy are they good," said Liberty coach John Hritz of the Tigers and their strong inside game. "We had no answer for that kind of height and it was a mismatch from the start."

Hritz said that the Tigers might be even better than last year's Howland team that lost to Rayen in the Division II district final.

Howland lost three key players from that team including Melissa Airhart, Carly Sabat and Ellie Shields who is starting for Kent State this year. The Tigers though returned a strong nucleus with Williams, Barzak, Allie Airhart, Abby Long and Abby Nicholas.

The quintent broke out to a 24-6 first quarter lead and never looked back.

Long scored 12 points while Airhart added eight and Williams seven.

"Sometimes I think we're a little better than we were last year," said Howland coach John Diehl. "We do move the ball faster down the floor.

"Our rebounding and shooting is a little bit better. We don't play quite as good as defense as last year but we're coming on."

Howland's defense was still too strong for the Leopards who committed 25 turnovers and shot just 28 percent from the field.

The Tigers held Liberty to just 10 first half points while opening up a 35-10 halftime lead.

"We still need to work on some small things defensively that will make us better," Diehl said.

The Tigers hope to get all their weapons in line in time for key Metro Athletic Conference matchups with Salem and Canfield in the next two weeks.

"We've had battles with Canfield and Salem the last 14 years," Diehl said. "These girls know what to expect and they will be ready."

Liberty (3-2) got a strong game on the boards from senior Brittany Armour who pulled down 10 rebounds but the Leopards struggled to get any kind of offensive momentum generated.

"They were just bigger and quicker and they just dominated us," Hritz said. "Howland beat us up in every phase of the game."

Friday, December 7, 2007