By Staff
CANTON – On Monday the Canton/Galva girls hosted Marion and used a strong final quarter to shoot past Lady Warriors and claim a seven-point, 47-40 victory.
It was the first of a busy week as the Lady Eagles, now 2-3 for the season, will look to even their season record with the scheduled game Tuesday when they play host to Lyons.
It was a very slow start for both teams as they played to a 3-3 tie at the end of the first quarter when Marion went ice cold to give the Lady Eagles a chance to push out to an 11-point, 15-4 lead going into the halftime break.
Marion came out on fire in the third quarter and poured 26 points onto the scoreboard while holding Canton/Galva to just 10, giving the visitors a brief five-point, 30-25 lead over the Lady Eagles. Canton/Galva bounced back in the fourth and outscored Marion 22-10 to take the final seven-point, 47-40 win.
“It was a very slow start for both teams,” explained Lady Eagle head coach Brad Willems. “We had a really good second quarter only allowing one point and leading by 11 at halftime. In the third quarter we came out dead and ended up trailing going into the fourth where we responded and played very well and came away with the victory.”
While many of the team stats proved how even much of the game was, the Lady Eagles held a resounding advantage at the free throw stripe where they connected on 17-of-24 or 71% while Marion only made 12-of-19.
Individually, the Espinoza sisters led the Lady Eagles as Trinity scored 13 and Lili had 11 while Brecken Pearson chipped in with nine.
Trinity Espinoza also led the team in rebounds with eight and steals with four, while sister Lili grabbed seven rebounds and both Pearson and Mimi Craig hauled in five each.
Coach Willems concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “I am not saying I like that we fell behind, but I love the fight we have to get back into it! We took another step tonight in getting better, plus we got some valuable minutes from people off the bench. We just need to keep growing as a team.”
CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLES hosting Marion
SCORING: Marion 3-1-26-10=40; LADY EAGLES 3-12-10-22=47
TEAM STATS: Marion: FGs – 11/37; 3-PTs – 6/16; FTs – 12/19; AST – 10; REBs – 25; TO – 28; STLs – 14; BLKs – 0. LADY EAGLES: FGs – 13/38; 3-PTs – 4/12; FTs – 17/24; AST – 9; REBs – 29; TO – 23; STLs – 11; BLKs – 4.
LADY EAGLE INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:
Scoring: Trinity Espinoza – 13; Lili Espinoza – 11; Brecken Pearson – 9; Adi Alcala – 7; Mimi Craig – 7.
Assists: T. Espinoza, L. Espinoza, Craig – 2; Pearson, Alcala, Sage Toews – 1.
Rebounds: T. Espinoza – 8; L. Espinoza – 7; Pearson, Craig – 5; Emerson Hoppes – 2.
Steals: T. Espinoza – 4; Pearson – 3; L. Espinoza – 2.
Blocked Shots: Pearson – 4.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)