CANFIELD — Non-conference competition gives neighboring schools an opportunity to play each other when they don’t normally do so, and on Monday night the Canfield Cardinals were able to hold off the late-charging South Range Raiders, 51-44, to improve to 7-1 on the year. The Raiders drop to 7-3 on the season.

“It’s a little special for me,” Cardinals coach Matt Reel said. “I coached varsity over there for three years and I still know a lot of people over there and what a great program and school system they have. I think it’s a great rivalry we have playing.

“A lot of people said, ‘Why are you playing a D-III team?’ Well, they are a good team. We just like to play good teams, and it’s a great rivalry.”

“I think it was a very important game for us,” junior point guard Marissa Ieraci said. “They are Division III, so a lot of people probably expected us to win. We had a lot to lose and they had a lot to gain, so I think we just had to prove a lot to show that we can win and are capable and deserved to win.”

The Cardinals used a strong presence on the boards to build a 38-22 lead at the 3:10 mark of the third quarter and looked to have control of the game. But the Raiders closed the third quarter with a 5-0 run to make it 38-27 at the close of the frame.

The Raiders continued to battle back as they went on a 12-3 run to start the fourth period, closing the gap to 41-39 with 3:21 remaining in the game. But the Cardinals showed great resilience as they kept their composure and converted on two baskets by Aiden Orlovsky and Alyssa Dill to make it 45-37 with 1:57 left.

Then Ieraci and Dill sank 5 of 6 free throws in the last minute of the contest to seal the victory.

“If we were in a boat, we couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean for what seemed to be about 10 minutes there,” Reel said about the Cardinals’ rough stretch. “I thought we got really good shots, we just didn’t put any in. Unfortunately in that stretch, we got a lot of stops, but not a lot of scores.”

“I think we kept our cool which really helped us to come out with the win,” Ieraci said. “We didn’t get frazzled and start panicking. That doesn’t help anyone. So I think we really stayed calm and executed when we had to, on defense especially.”

The Cardinals began the contest by dominating the boards and building a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. They continued to pull away from the pesky Raiders in the second frame as they built a 10-point lead at the 3:07 mark when Grace Mangapora converted two free throws. But the Raiders closed the period outscoring the Cardinals 5-4 to make it 29-20 in favor of the Cardinals at the intermission.

“I was pleased that even when we didn’t shoot the ball really well tonight that we were still able to kind of come out with a victory against a really good team,” Reel said.

“I think we grow up a little bit every night,” Raider coach Jeff Fishel said about his young team. “Unfortunately, in some moments, I think we are taking steps back. But we have to figure out a way to continue to grow up and eliminate backward steps.

“This was a tough environment, a Division I school that is going to make a lot of noise the rest of the year, so we definitely found some things we can build on tonight.”

Next up for the Cardinals is a big rivalry game in Poland on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders return home this weekend as they host a holiday tournament. They will entertain West Branch Friday night.