Canton’s Maggie Treacy is under pressure from Enfield’s Mary Baskerville and Delaney Lawler in Friday night’s NCCC game in Canton.
CANTON, Jan. 15 – A year ago on the big stage in their home gym, the Canton High girls basketball team stumbled and fell in a big game against Avon. The visiting Falcons raced out to an early 16-point lead in the first quarter. Even though Canton rallied to take a one-point lead, Avon stood tall to earn a 15-point victory.
It was a similar story Friday night on the big stage against visiting Enfield in front of Connecticut Public Television’s live cameras. Both teams were undefeated in the North Central Connecticut Conference. And Canton fell on its face early. The Warriors turned the ball over 10 times before they scored a point and the Raiders had an early 13-point lead.
Canton rallied and took their first lead early in the third quarter. But Canton couldn’t stop 6-foot-3 sophomore Mark Baskerville, who scored a team-leading 14 points nor sophomore guard Caterina Fonseca, who also scored 14 points in a 55-45 NCCC victory.
Enfield takes command of the NCCC race, improving to 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the league. Canton slips to 8-3 overall and 7-1 in the NCCC. The two teams could meet again in the NCCC Tournament in February. Friday’s game was televised live on CPTV Sports’ cable network.
“You can’t get yourself down by 14 against a good basketball team,” Canton coach Brian Medeiros said. “Once again, this was too big of a moment. I would have thought by now we would be finally relaxed in this setting. Yes, TV was here, a lot of people are covering the game. But let’s just play basketball. For whatever reason, you saw it in their breathing, you saw it in their running and you obviously saw it in their decision making. We weren’t ready to come out. But once we slowed it down, we got back into the game.”
Abbe Skinner (21) controls the ball in Friday night’s loss to Enfield.
Enfield, playing in the league for the final season, wasn’t at full strength. Guard Regina Leblance is out with a knee injury and forward Danielle Delano was playing with an ankle she injured in Monday’s win over Bolton. Enfield and Fermi will merge at the end of the year and the combined school will play in the Central Connecticut Conference next winter.
“We played hard and didn’t quit,” Enfield coach Jay Gaucher said. “Their points came off our sloppy turnovers.”
In the first quarter, Canton turned the ball over 10 times and Enfield built a 12-0 lead. The Warriors didn’t score until Treacy stole a pass, drove to the basket and was fouled. She sank a free throw. Fonseca scored on a fast break to give the visiting Raiders a 13-point lead, 14-1.
The Warriors didn’t panic and went on a 13-2 run sparked by a three-pointer from Briggs and five points from Treacy. That cut the lead to two, 16-14.
Enfield extended its lead to six late in the second quarter but Treacy hit two free throws and Briggs drained a jumper from the corner off a dish from Treacy to cut the lead to two, 22-20 with 1:41 in the second quarter. A free throw from Emma Charron heled cut Enfield’s lead to 22-21 at the half.
Treacy’s underhanded drive to the basket early in the third quarter gave Canton its first lead at 23-22. But Enfield outscored Canton, 11-3 to take command. Baskerville scored four points, two over Briggs in the low post and two off an offensive rebound. Fonseca had five points while Morgan Basker scored off a loose ball rebound to extend the lead to seven, 33-26.
Canton never got any closer than four points the remainder of the game. Briggs fouled out with about 4:30 left in the game, which didn’t help the offensive output. Six-foot-two freshman Sarah Bowman scored just three points but played well against Mary Baskerville, blocking two of her shots in the game.
Baskerville got into some foul trouble and sat out much of the second half. But her value shone brightly in the third quarter as she was force in the middle. Baskerville pulled down 10 rebounds, she had five steals and eight blocks. “She’s talented,” Medeiros said. “She’s big. She’s strong. She’s explosive. She is so quick as getting the ball off the ground. She is tough to contain.”
Enfield 55, Canton 45
At Canton
Enfield (55): Taylor Poletti 0-0-0, Erica Lovering 4-0-8, Caterina Fonseca 4-6-14, Morgan Baskerville 2-3-7, Delaney Lawler 1-0-2, Madi Ludwick 0-0-0, Danielle Delano 2-6-10, Mary Baskerville 4-6-14. Totals 17 21-55
Canton (45): Emma Charron 2 1-2 5, Carly Atkinson 0-0-0, Abbe Skinner 0 1-2 1, Emily Briggs 6 2-5 15, Maggie Treacy 5 10-15 21, Belle Magna 0-0-0, Sarah Bowman 1-1-3, Leah Eschenbrenner 0-0-0, Amanda Gottlieb 0-0-0. Totals 14-15-45
Enfield (10-0) 18 4 17 16 — 55
Canton (7-3) 14 7 13 11 — 45
Three-point goals: Treacy (C) 2, Briggs (C)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login