WESTFIELD TWP. — The most entertaining girls basketball offense in Medina County outdid itself.
Run-and-gun Cloverleaf matched a season high for points in a quarter Wednesday to open its Portage Trail Conference Metro Division game against Coventry. The Colts then broke that barely marinated mark in the fourth quarter.
The 78-53 final was misleading, as Cloverleaf scored 27 points in the first quarter to grab a 15-point lead and 28 in the fourth to put away the athletic but offensively challenged Comets.
Cloverleaf’s Lexi Civittolo scores past Coventry’s Karli Morisak during the first quarter. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
That’s 55 points in 16 minutes, for those counting at home with a Cup O’ Joe in their hand.
“We all share the ball really well, and every person on the starting five and even on the bench, we all can hit shots if we need to,” All-Ohioan Lexi Civittolo said. “We have that trust in each other, and if someone needs to take a shot, we know we have people out there who can do it.”
The Colts (11-3, 7-1), who stayed one game behind Ravenna (12-3, 8-0) in the Metro race, shot a combined 24-for-40 from the floor, 4-for-8 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 at the foul line in the first and fourth quarters. They led 27-12 after one and 50-38 after three.
Transition offense was a huge factor, as Cloverleaf got wide-open layups in the first half. The Comets (6-7, 3-5) helped matters by trying to press the Colts, who have plenty of practice against the scheme after playing Division I superpower Wadsworth eight times in their last three years in the Suburban League.
The fourth quarter came down to attitude, as Cloverleaf got fed up with undisciplined mistakes on defense that allowed Coventry to get into contention. Rushed 3-point bricks by the Comets then fueled the fire, as Cloverleaf went on a 17-5 run over the first 4:14 of the period.
“When we started looking up the floor, we saw we had open people,” center Taylor Barnum said. “We moved the ball and got easy layups. It was really easy for us to score points.”
Coming off a win over Streetsboro on Saturday in which she took 25 shots without an assist, Civittolo moved the ball excellently and finished with team highs of 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, while Barnum made transition layups and grabbed key offensive rebounds en route to a career-high 14 points.
They were hardly the only standouts, as Jillian Miglich (15 points, 6 assists) had five assists in the first quarter, Ava Illig (11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals) had another stat-stuffing game and Kassandra Kemp kicked off the fourth-quarter bonanza with two unanswered buckets.
Coventry, which lost the first meeting 45-40 on Dec. 2, got 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting from small forward Megan Murray, eight points, 11 rebounds, five assists and eight turnovers from aggressive point guard Karli Morisak and nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds from center Takaylyn Hudson.
What the Comets couldn’t match was Cloverleaf attacking the rim like rabid wolves going after a piece of raw meat.
But unlike wolves, the Colts shared the bacon.
“It’s fun when we move the ball well,” a smiling Civittolo said.
Note
Lisa Wangler had 13 points as Cloverleaf’s junior varsity won 28-25.
Cloverleaf 78, Coventry 53
COVENTRY 12 15 11 15 — 53
CLOVERLEAF 27 11 12 28 — 78
Coventry — Megan Murray 4-0-11, April Mashburn 2-0-4, Takaylyn Hudson 3-3-9, Kia Greene 3-0-8, Karli Morisak 4-0-8, Zoe Sheppard 1-1-3, Ja’Nayah Keys 2-0-4, Antinya McCants 2-0-4, Isabella Pieri 1-0-2. TOTALS: 22-4-53.
Cloverleaf — Lexi Civittolo 9-2-22, Kassandra Kemp 2-1-6, Taylor Barnum 6-2-14, Jillian Miglich 6-0-15, Ava Illig 4-2-11, Mckenna Jordan 2-2-6, Erian Hamilton 1-0-2, Kayla Wilson 1-0-2, Anna Winnicki 0-0-0, Lisa Wangler 0-0-0. TOTALS: 31-9-78.
3-point goals — Murray 3, Greene 2, Miglich 3, Civittolo 2, Illig, Kemp. Rebounds — Coventry 46 (Hudson 14), Cloverleaf 41 (Civittolo 12). Assists — Coventry 14 (Morisak 5), Cloverleaf 21 (Civittolo 7). Records — Cloverleaf (11-3, 7-1), Coventry (6-7, 3-5). Junior varsity — Cloverleaf 28, Coventry 25.