By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
HOPE – The Canton/Galva boys and girls went on the road Friday to tangle with Rural Vista and came home with a split of two games as the Eagle boys won by 32, 68-36 while the Lady Eagles lost by 12, 41-29.
With the win, the Eagle boys are now 8-6 for the season as they prep for a busy week ahead with road games on both Monday at Southern Coffey County and Tuesday at Wichita Warriors before returning home on Friday to host Fairfield.
The loss drops the Lady Eagles to just 3-14 for the year as they prepare for games Monday at Southern Coffey County and Tuesday at the Wichita Warriors.
For the Eagle boys, Canton/Galva jumped all over Rural Vista in the first quarter and held a whopping 16-point, 18-2 lead by the time they finished the first eight minutes of play. In the second quarter, Rural Vista turned the offense on and out scored the Eagles 19-12, chipping the Eagles lead down to just nine at 30-21 heading to the halftime break.
In the final two quarters, Canton/Galva was a model of consistency as they scored 19 points in both quarters while holding Rural Vista to just two in the final eight minutes to earn the final 32-point victory.
“We came out ready to play,” noted Eagle head coach Larry O’Connor. “Our full court pressing got us some good scoring opportunities. Our shot selection in quarters two and three was not so good as we shot way too many three pointers. But the last quarter and a half we picked up the pressure and did a great job moving the ball and getting everyone involved.”
Ten different Eagles put points in the scorebook and five connected on at least one three-pointer.
Leading the scoring was Christian Darrah with 13 while both Brayden Doughman and Xavier Westbrook also reached double digits with 12 and 11, respectively.
The Lady Eagles fell behind by seven, 11-4, by the end of the first quarter before playing Rural Vista close in the second but still trailed by eight, 19-11, at the halftime intermission. In the final sixteen minutes of play, Canton/Galva played Rural Vista closer by putting 18 points on the board to the home team getting 22, giving the Lady Eagles their final 12-point deficit.
Mimi Craig had a huge game for the Lady Eagles as she scored 18 of the teams 29 points.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLE BOYS
EAGLES 18 12 19 19 = 68
Rural Vista 2 19 13 2 = 36
No Team Stats were Available.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS: SCORING (69 total points): Christian Darrah – 13; Brayden Doughman – 12; Xavier Westbrook – 11; Jory Ratzlaff – 6; Cason Mastre – 5; Nightingale – 5; Jayden Ediger – 5; TJ Koehn – 4; Beltz – 3; Lane McMannis – 2; Nick Collins – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (8): Darrah, Ratzlaff – 2; Mastre, Nightingale, Ediger, Beltz – 1.
CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLES
LADY EAGLES 4 7 12 9 = 29
Rural Vista 11 8 12 10 = 41
No Team Stats were Available.
CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS: SCORING (29 total points): Mimi Craig – 18; Sage Toews – 6; Lili Espinoza – 3; Red Craig – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (3): Toews – 2; Espinoza – 1.