FeedsLady Chiefs top Northville, 60-38
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Ja’nee Morton (33) attempts a shot against Northville last Tuesday. The Lady Chiefs won the contest, 60-38.The Canton Lady Chiefs won their seventh consecutive game on the hardwood when they retired the Lady Mustangs, 60-38, in Northville on Tuesday.
Canton’s senior point guard and outside threat Becci Houdek got her shot going early on. She scored 13 points in the first quarter, including three consecutive triples. The action put Canton up, 20-9, after one quarter of play.
Senior guard Ja’nee Morton scored the other seven points for the Chiefs.
Canton relaxed some in the second while Northville made some adjustments to get on track. Led by senior Jessica Boerger, with six points, and sophomore Chelsea Atzinger, who knocked down five, Northville outscored Canton 13-8 in the frame to pull to within six points, 28-22.
“Obviously Becci wants to shoot the ball and we didn’t do a good job keeping track of her in the first quarter,” said Northville Coach Pete Wright. “We did a better job in the second quarter and made the other four play a little bit. I think that’s what you have to do against (Canton) and take your chances with the other four from the perimeter as opposed to Becci.”
The strategy worked. Houdek only put up five points in the second; Canton only put up eight in the frame.
In the third, the Lady Chiefs woke up.
Northville followed through and limited Houdek to three points, but four other Chiefs scored in the 23-point melee. Morton scored 10 in the eight-minute span.
Both sides put subs in for the fourth where Canton outscored Northville, 9-4.
“(Northville) is a good team and we had to come out and match their intensity,” said Canton Coach Brian Samulski. “Becci Houdek shot real well early on and we got off to a good start. In the second quarter, because we had such a great first, we relaxed a little bit and settled for things. We made one adjustment against the zone and it worked out well; Baylee Hollowell got some easy scores in the third to get us rolling again.”
Another key to the game for Canton was to impeded Northville’s junior point guard Sarah Stern.
“She is a very good player, Samulski said. “She pushes the ball so we had to keep her under control and not let her get into the lane and not let her create for her teammates. I thought Lauren (Delapaz) and Leslie (Weisz) did a great job not letting her get to the rim. That didn’t allow them to get anything going.
Once Canton took Stern out of the inside game, it was the lack of the outside shot that hurt Northville. Boerger was the only Lady ‘Stang to hit a triple in the contest.
“We’ve known all year that we have to make perimeter shots to win,” Wright said. “In the Franklin game we made a bunch and all of a sudden it opened a lot of things up and that’s really the only game where we made a whole lot of perimeter shots. So we need to shoot the ball better to be able to, number one, open up the post and to open up the driving game.”
Houdek led all scorers with 23. Morton added 20. Atzinger led Northville with nine.
The victory finished off the first half of division play. Canton, now 10-2 overall, escaped the round unscathed at 5-0. Northville, 7-5 overall, fell to 2-3 in the Western division.
“We’re playing that double round robin this time and that was the end of the first half and we we’re 2-3,” Wright said. “We certainly disappointed with being 2-3. We let two slip away, one with Walled Lake Western, and we need to do better the second time around. Obviously Canton will be a tough one but that will be at the end so we need to do some things better before then.”
Canton went on to beat Plymouth, 65-27, at home on Thursday. Hollowell scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Houdek added 17 points. Plymouth is 5-8 and 3-3. Boerger scored 11 and Atzinger had 10 to lead Northville past Wayne on Thursday. Trenia Barbee scored nine for Wayne (1-12, 0-6).
Canton heads to Walled Lake Western at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Northville hosts Plymouth at the same time.
