By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
ST. JOHN – The Canton/Galva boys and girls basketball team put their 2021-22 seasons to rest on Thursday as they both suffered losses in the first round of the Class 1A Division I sub-state to St. John, with the boys losing by 18, 59-31, and the girls losing 50-14.
With the losses the Eagle boys finish the season 9-10 while the Lady Eagles close out with a 3-18 record.
Summary of the two games:
LADY EAGLES LOOK TO THE FUTURE
In a season with changes, the Canton/Galva girls made it through the season, sometimes playing with just six players while also dealing with a mid-season coaching change, they made it to the end.
On Thursday, St. John jumped out to 17-2 first quarter lead before extending it to 35-4 by the halftime break. While the Lady Eagles were able to muster some offense in the second half, the game still ended up a huge loss, 50-14.
“St. Johns is a talented team that is so well coached,” noted Lady Eagle head coach Brad Crump. “We knew it was going to be an uphill battle with their speed and size, but I am proud of the girls as they fought until the very end. We lost Lily (Espinoza) just before the halftime break and couldn’t find our rhythm in the second half.”
Only four Lady Eagles scored in the game with Mimi Craig leading the way with six points.
Crump, who took over the head coaching reigns after the Christmas break, concluded his post-game and season reflections by adding, “I am proud of the girls and how they responded to getting a new coaching staff over the Christmas break. They came to practice every day wanting to work and get better and I think that is going to carry over into next year. We gained three wins after the first of the year, and we were in some games late that we had a chance to win. I am confident that those wins and being in close games late gave us the needed experience to help us in the future. We lose just one senior in Nicole Miller. I am so proud of how far she came throughout the season. We will return just about everyone and have an exciting group of eighth-graders coming in that I hope will lead to success in our programs future.”
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
LADY EAGLES 2 4 3 5 14
St. John 17 18 8 7 50
No Team Stats Available.
CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLE LEADING SCORERS (14 total points): Mimi Craig – 6; Nicole Miller – 3; Sage Toews – 3; Brecken Pearson – 2. 3-Pointers Made (2): Miller, Toews – 1.
1st HALF STRUGGLES COST EAGLE BOYS
Scoring struggles in the first half on Thursday cost the Canton/Galva boys and they just were not able to catch up in their 59-31 loss.
The Eagles only mustered four points in the first quarter and trailed 21-4 when it was done. In the second quarter they still struggled putting points on the board and added just six while St. John scored 11, giving them a commanding 22-point, 32-10 lead at the halftime break.
While Canton/Galva did get 10 points put in the scorebook in the third quarter, St. John struck for 23 and even by outscoring St. John 11-4 in the final eight minutes of play it was not enough for the Eagles to avoid the final 28-point loss.
Thanks to connecting on three three-pointers, Garrett Maltbie led the Eagles in scoring with 11 while Christian Darrah chipped in with eight.
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
EAGLES 4 6 10 11 31
St. John 21 11 23 4 59
No Team Stats Available.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLE LEADING SCORERS (31 total points): Garrett Maltbie – 11; Christian Darrah – 8; Cason Mastre – 4; Xavier Westbrook – 3; Jayden Ediger – 2; TJ Koehn – 2. 3-Pointers Made (4): Maltbie – 3; Darrah – 1.