Canton’s Emily Briggs fights through two Bolton defenders in Monday’s 43-34 Class S semifinal victory over Bolton. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)
MANCHESTER, March 14 – The Canton High girls basketball team is going to get another opportunity to play for a state championship.
The No. 3 seeded Warriors earned a berth in the finals with a hard-fought 43-34 victory over Bolton Monday night at East Catholic High. Canton (21-6) beat No. 2 Bolton for the first time in three games this year, having dropped a 57-54 decision in the regular season and a 55-48 decision in overtime in the NCCC Tournament.
Canton will face top-ranked Thomaston in the championship game at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Thomaston, which eliminated Kolbe Cathedral, 59-37 in the other semifinal Monday night, beat Canton in last year’s Class S championship game, 52-50. The Bears will be looking for their third straight state title.
It’s the first time in school history that Canton will be going to the girls basketball title game in consecutive years.
Emily Briggs and Maggie Treacy led the way for the Warriors on the scoreboard. Briggs had a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds while Treacy scored 15 with eight rebounds. But Canton played well defensively throughout the game, allowing Bolton just 14 points in the second half.
“The girls came out with great intensity, battled from the opening whistle and played with a purpose,” Canton coach Brian Medeiros said. “Abbe Skinner and Belle Magna made (Bolton’s) Jessica Larsh work for everything. Their tough man-to-man defense gave her fits.”
Still, Larsh was able to score 18 to lead Bolton (24-4), which was looking for their first-ever berth in a state championship final. She didn’t get much help. Julia Hinckley scored eight and Sydney Marshall added six for Bolton, which was averaging 49.4 points a game. Bolton’s 34 points was its second-lowest scoring output of the season.
Abbe Skinner tries to get a pass away in Monday night’s Class S semifinal win over Bolton at East Catholic High. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)
In two previous defeats, Canton let Bolton build up big leads. In a three-point defeat in January, the Bulldogs led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter before Canton surged before cutting the deficit to three with 9.2 seconds remaining.
In the semifinals of the NCCC Tournament, Bolton again took an early 10-point lead. This time, Canton rallied earlier and had the lead in the final minutes but couldn’t finish as Bolton forced overtime where they prevailed, 55-48.
On Monday, Bolton had a five-point lead in the first quarter but Bolton couldn’t build on that lead. The Bulldogs led 10-5 but Canton went on a 6-1 run to take the lead for the first time, 12-11, thanks to a Treacy jumper, a basket from Emma Charron in the lane and foul shots from Briggs and Charron.
Canton had the 21-20 lead at the half thanks to a late jumper from Abbe Skinner. Larsh’s opening basket in the third quarter gave Bolton a brief one-point lead but Briggs sank a jumper and added a foul shot for a two-point Canton lead, 24-22.
Larsh tied the game at 24 on a basket but Canton responded with baskets from Treacy and Briggs for a 28-24 lead.
Medieros also praised the play of 6-0 freshman Sarah Bowman, who missed the two previous Bolton games due to injuries. She pulled down some key rebounds and altered some Bolton shots in the lane.
Two free throws from Magna and a three-point play from Briggs gave Canton a 33-25 lead and Treacy helped close out the game by sinking 8-of-9 free throw attempts in the final minutes of the game.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this group,” Medeiros said. “This is an unbelievable accomplishment. We all look forward to playing Thomaston at Mohegan Sun over the weekend.”
Bill Brewster contributed to this story.
Canton 43, Bolton 34
At Manchester
Canton (43): Emily Briggs 6-7-19, Maggie Treacy 3-9-15, Emma Charron 1-1-3, Abbé Skinner 1-0-2, Leah Eschenbrenner 0-0-0, Carly Atkinson 0-0-0, Belle Magna 0-2-2, Sarah Bowman 1-1-3. Totals 12 20-30 43
Bolton (34): Jessica Larsh 6-5-18, Rose Zimmerman 0-0-0, Caitlin Whitehead 1-0-2, Megan Shorey 0-0-0, Sydney Marshall 3-0-6, Julia Hinckley 4-0-8, Julianne Fisher 0-0-0, Brooke Damboise 0-0-0. Totals 14 5-14 34
Canton (21-6) 8 13 7 15 — 43
Bolton (24-4) 10 10 5 9 — 34
Three-point goals: Briggs (C) 2, Treacy (C), Larsch (B)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login