By Staff

            FAIRFIELD – After a pair of solid wins, the Canton/Galva girls came up short in the championship game of the Fairfield Falcon Tournament and finished second after losing by 13, 58-45, to Independent on Friday.

            Now 9-6 for the season, the Lady Eagles will be back on the competitive court Tuesday when they go on the road to play Herington.

            “We played hard,” noted Lady Eagle head coach Brad Willems. “But we came up short. They were a very good, athletic team, and we did a lot of good things against them, but we came up short.”

            After trailing by four, 12-8, at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Eagles powered back in the second quarter and took a slim one-point, 24-23 lead for themselves going into the halftime break. After falling behind again in the third quarter, 42-38, Independent finished out the game by outscoring Canton/Galva 16-7 in the fourth quarter to gain the final 13-point victory, leaving the Lady Eagles with the second-place trophy.

            Four Lady Eagles made the Falcon Tournament All-Tourney team including Brecken Pearson, Mimi Craig, Lili Espinoza and Trinity Espinoza while Pearson won the three-point shooting contest.

            Coach Willems adding, “For three quarters we went on runs and they went on runs. We had some foul trouble and it caught up with us in the fourth.”

            The Espinoza sisters led the Lady Eagles in scoring with Trinity getting 13 points and Lili scoring 11 while Trinity also led the team in steals with four and Lili just missed a double-double with a team high nine rebounds. Mimi Craig also reached double digits in the score column with 10 points. Brecken Pearson ran the offense and dished out five assists while getting in the paint enough to haul in five rebounds.

            Concluding his reflections on the game, coach Willems said, “We have got to continue to get better at rebounding and taking care of the ball. When we do the little things, we are a very good team. I love how hard we played all night. We will get better because of this game!”

CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLES vs. Independent at Fairfield Falcon Tournament

SCORING: LADY EAGLES > 8-16-14-7 = 45; Independent > 12-11-19-16 = 58

LADY EAGLE TEAM STATS > 2-FGs – 11/28; 3-PTs – 4/11; FTs – 11/17; AST – 7; REBs – 29; TO – 25; STLs – 4; BLKs – 0; FLs – n/a.

LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:  Scoring > Trinity Espinoza – 13; Lili Espinoza – 11; Mimi Craig – 10; Adi Alcala – 8; Brecken Pearson – 3.  3-Pointers Made > Alcala – 2; T. Espinoza, L. Espinoza – 1.  Assists > Pearson – 5.  Rebounds > L. Espinoza – 9; Pearson – 6; T. Espinoza, M. Craig – 5.  Steals > T. Espinoza – 4.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)