Girls'
basketball team's tourney run cut short
By Jeffrey
Pickette
Citizen Staff
Unable to
crack an aggressive defensive attack, the Canton High varsity
girls’ basketball team fell 62-50 on the road against Burke High
in Dorchester in the first round of the Division 3 south
sectional tournament Monday night.
Fifteenth-seeded Canton headed into the state tournament playing
its best basketball of the season, winning four of its last five
games, but had trouble dealing with a quicker and stronger Burke
team, the second-seeded team in the bracket.
The Bulldogs
end the season with a 6-15 record.
“We were
inconsistent with controlling the game and staying composed,”
head coach Kaitlin Mills said after the game. “They frazzled
us.”
Mills said
Canton had trouble containing Frederika Lawson and Khadijah
Ellison, who combined to score 38 points in the win for Burke.
Burke took a
four-point lead into the half and used a press defense in the
second half to extend the lead, forcing a high frequency of
Canton turnovers. Burke built a double-digit lead in the third
quarter and maintained at least a ten-point lead the rest of the
way.
“They really
dominated the third quarter and took over defensively,” Mills
said.
Mills was
impressed with Erika Bornemann and Olivia Murphy, crediting the
duo with “carrying the team offensively the whole night.”
Bornemann had 22 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks in the
loss, while Murphy added 15 points and 17 rebounds.
The loss
marked the final high school basketball game for seniors Laura
O’Brien, Christen Ivanoski, Elana Willinsky and Bornemann.
Prior to the
state tournament, Canton took part in the Riley Winter Classic,
hosted by Westwood High, losing to Norwood 62-47 last Tuesday
and beating King Philip 57-45 in the consolation game the next
night.
Canton had
trouble defending the post against Norwood, according to Mills.
In the loss, Bornemann had 20 points — 17 in the second half —
to go along with 13 rebounds and four blocks.
The Bulldogs,
however, had no problems inside against King Philip, with
Bornemann and Murphy combining for 27 rebounds and seven blocked
shots.
Bornemann led
Canton with 26 points, while Alana Pitts Anaya was able to hit
the outside shot to go along with her five rebounds, five steals
and five assists. Nicki Fralick added 12 points and five
assists.
“At the beginning of the season
[after] those first five games when we got blown out, no one was
thinking we would make the tournament and we did, and we
belonged there,” Mills said. “I’m really proud of these kids and
the effort they have given all season long.”
February 25, 2010
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