Northville Girls Basketball Falls to Canton

—Submitted by Coach Todd Gudith

Northville traveled to Canton for a division cross-over game. The last time these two teams met it was in the district championship game last season with Northville coming out on top. This would be a different game though with many of the players that played in the championship game having graduated.

Canton was aggressive to start the game and mixed in with Northville struggling to rebound helped the Chiefs get out to an 8-0 lead in the first 4 minutes.  Northville would turn up the heat late in the quarter to go on a 11-5 run the last 4 minutes to close within 2. Northville held Canton to just one made basket in the 2nd quarter but couldn't get much going themselves but still trailed by 2 at the half after a lay-up with 2 seconds left. Northville opened up a brief lead in the 3rd quarter as triples by Brittany Berehulka and Kendra Brenner gave the Mustangs a 3 point lead at 26-23. Canton would quickly rally back on 2 Northville turnovers to regain the lead and keep it for good. Although Northville made more baskets than Canton (14 to 12) the biggest advantage for Canton came at the foul line where the Chiefs shot 20-28 compared to Northville's 3-7. 

This was a disapointing game because we have the talent to match up and beat them. Offensively even though we missed some opportunities, 36 points against Canton is enough if we defend better. We played well in spurts but never sustained it. We weren't very good defending in the post early on and they took advantage of that. I thought we did a little better job in the 2nd half. Too many times we would stop them only to get outrebounded. Anytime you let a team get to the foul line that much it just makes you have to work that much harder on the other end to score. That's what Canton does a good job of from an offensive standpoint, getting to the rim and the foul line. We didn't shut that down enough.   

Northville, 3-1 overall, will take some time off before hosting their 3rd annual Holiday Tournament. The Mustangs will play Harper Woods on Friday, Dec. 28 at 5 p.m. in one semi-final.  The consolation game is Saturday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m. and the Championship at 5 p.m.  The other teams in the tourney are Dexter and Ferndale.