LOSE BY 13

By Staff

            GOESSEL – Despite a tremendous regular season, turnovers and foul issues caused the Elyria Christian girls to faltered in the second half on Thursday in their Class 1A Division I sub-state semifinals and lost by 13, 51-38 to Canton/Galva.

            “We ran into a very hot team tonight who was also well prepared,” noted Elyria Christian head coach Greg Fields. “A lot of credit goes to Canton/Galva for playing great defense throughout the entire game. They brought a lot of energy, and their crowd made it a great environment to play in.”

With the loss the Lady Eagles finished the 2022-23 season at 16-5 while Canton/Galva continued a turnaround season in moving to 14-8 and gaining the substate finals against Sylvan/Lucas on Saturday.

(#25 – Ryland Hawkinson & #21 – Allie Stone)

            Coach Fields continued by pointing out, “I did not do a good enough job getting our girls ready to handle their press, and once we got flustered in the second half, we struggled to keep our composure. On the defensive side for us, we started the second half committing a lot of unnecessary fouls and our foul trouble seemed to get us out of rhythm as a team.”

            Elyria had a three-point, 7-4 lead at the end of the first quarter before extending it out to a seven-point, 21-14, advantage going into the halftime break. Canton/Galva had a huge third and fourth quarters, scoring 19 in the third while holding Elyria to jus eight, which turned the lead in the game to them by four. IN the final quarter, Canton/Galva put up another 18 points while keeping Elyria below ten with nine, giving them the final 13-point victory over Elyria.

            Only four Lady Eagles scored for Elyria, as Ryland Hawkinson closed out her Elyria career with a team high 21 points while grabbing a team high seven rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocked shots. Allie Stone finished with 13 points as well.  

            Fields put high praise on Stone and Hawkinson by saying, “Allie (Stone) had an outstanding first half getting the ball up the court and scoring around the basket. Once she picked up her fourth foul in the second half, we were not able to keep her in as much as we needed. Ryland (Hawkinson) had another solid night offensively and continued to attach the basket throughout the game.”

Foul issues were one of the reasons Elyria faltered as they were whistled 23 times and three of the four Lady Eagle starters ran into foul trouble in the second half with Julia Allen fouled out and both Stone and Macy Reiff had to play cautiously with four each. Elyria also committed 27 turnovers in the game.

Concluding his post-game reflections by talking about the season, coach Fields added, “I am proud of the season that our girls had, and the unity that they demonstrated through the last several months. We will miss our seniors tremendously, but we have a lot of young talent coming that should make for some exciting basketball ahead. I really appreciate all of the support from our parents and fans this season.”

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES vs. Canton/Galva at Goessel in sub-state semifinals

SCORING: EEYRIA CHRISTIAN > 9-14-8-9 = 38; CANTON/GALVA 4-10-19-18 = 51.

TEAM STATS: ELYRIA CHRISTIAN > 2-FGs – 12/22; 3-PTs – 2/17; FTs – 8/16; AST – 9; REBs – 23; TO – 27; STLs – 12; BLKs – 2; FLs – 23.  CANTON/GALVA > 2-FGs – 10/22; 3-PTs – 4/14; FTs – 19/26; AST – n/a; REBs – 22; TO – 19; STLs – 8; BLKs – 1; FLs – 18.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STATS: Scoring > Ryland Hawkinson – 21; Allie Stone – 13; Macy Reiff – 2; Raegan Hawkinson – 2.  3-Pointers Made > Ry. Hawkinson, Stone – 1.  Assists > Grace Prescott – 3; Reiff, Alexus Swenson – 2; Addison Swenson – 1.  Rebounds > Ry. Hawkinson – 7; Julia Allen – 3; Ra. Hawkinson, Reiff, Al. Swenson – 2; Stone, Prescott, Mina Aroum – 1.  Steals > Ry. Hawkinson – 5; Stone – 3; Allen – 2; Ad. Swenson, Reiff – 1.  Blocked Shots – Ry. Hawkinson – 2.

(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)