By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

FAIRFIELD – After suffering through a major scoring drought on Thursday where they only put five points on the board for an entire game, the Canton/Galva girls lit the burners on their offense on Friday as they scorched Central Christian to the tune of a 28-point, 58-30 victory at the Fairfield Invitational Tournament.

“After a frustrating night on Thursday we challenged our girls to be better offensively and they came out and had their best game of the season,” noted Lady Eagle head coach Brad Crump.

The victory was just the second on the season for the Lady Eagles as they are now 2-10 for 2021-22, but 2-4 since the return from the holiday break. Next up is a makeup game on Saturday at Goessel, return home Tuesday to tangle with Herington before going on the road next Friday to battle Little River.

Taking a 10-point lead, 17-7, by the end of the first quarter, the Lady Eagles held on to the 10-point advantage at 25-15 going into the halftime break.

In the third quarter the Canton/Galva defense held Central Christian to just five points while pouring 21 more points on the scoreboard themselves to take a commanding 26-point, 46-20 lead into the final eight minutes of play where they held on for the final 28-point victory.

The Lady Eagles were able to overcome some shortcomings like 18 turnovers by pulling down a whopping 36 rebound advantage while holding Central Christian to hitting just 20% of their shots from the field.

Dominating the paint was also a highlight of the game as the Lady Eagles outscored Central Christian 46-6 in the paint and 19-4 on second chance offensive opportunities.

Individually, Canton/Galva had three girls reach double figures and two of them recording a double double led by Mimi Craig who led the team in scoring with 21 points while pulling down 11 rebounds. Her sister Red Craig put 12 points in the scorebook and topped the lady Eagles in the paint with 16 rebounds while Lily Espinoza pitched in with 11 points and Brecken Pearson had eight. Pearson and Sage Toews gave the Lady Eagles four individuals with double digits in rebounds as they recorded 13 and 10, respectively.

Lily Espinoza and Toews directed the offense and had six and five assists each while Espinoza recorded five steals on defense and Mimi Craig blocked three shots.

Coach Crump concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “Mimi (Craig) and Red (Craig) dominated the paint as they had 21 and 12 points each. We challenged them at halftime to have a great third quarter and they did. We did some great things that we can build on.”

SCORING =

Central Christian                7          8          5          10       =          30

LADY EAGLES                       17       8          21       12       =          58

TEAM STATS:

Central Christian = FG 10/50 (20%); 3-PTR 2/17 (12%); FT 8/17 (47%); AST 6; REBS 24; TO 17; STLS 10; BLK 2; PF 10.

CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLES = FG 26/70 (37%); 3-PTR 1/12 (8%); FT 5/9 (56%); AST 16; REBS 60; TO 18; STLS 8; BLK 4; PF 13.

CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING AND STATS:

SCORING (58 total points) = Mimi Craig – 21; Red Craig – 12; Lily Espinoza – 11; Brecken Pearson – 8; Sage Toews – 4; Nicole Miller – 2.

3-POINTERS MADE (1) = Espinoza – 1.

ASSISTS = Espinoza – 6; Toews – 5; Pearson, M. Craig – 2.

REBOUNDS = R. Craig – 16; Pearson – 13; M. Craig – 11; Toews – 10; Miller – 3.

STEALS = Espinoza – 5; Miller – 3.

BLOCKED SHOTS = M. Craig – 3; Espinoza – 1.