Canton’s Allison Celmer (22) drives up the floor in Tuesday night’s NCCC Tournament win over Windsor Locks. Celmer scored a team-high 18 points for the Warriors. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)
CANTON, February 25, 2020 – It’s natural to rely on your teammate – especially if she is a two-time All-State guard. But in this year’s NCCC Tournament, the Canton High girls basketball team find they need to get job done without leading scorer Abby Charron.
Charron is getting some time to rest an ankle that she sprained in practice last week. Head coach Brian Medeiros said she will be ready to play in the Class S tournament.
But for now, Charron can’t pull down a big rebound or hit a key jumper. She can just cheer on her teammates, who came up big in Tuesday night’s NCCC Tournament semifinal with a 51-46 victory over No. 4 Windsor Locks.
The top seeded Warriors (20-2) will face Suffield in Thursday night’s NCCC championship game at 6:45 p.m. on their home floor. The Wildcats held Granby to just 30 points in a 47-30 victory.
Allison Celmer had a team-high 18 points and five steals for Canton while Paige Brown scored 11 points. Gabby Schinkel had nine points and pulled down six rebounds. Grace Treacy had five points but grabbed six rebounds and had six assists.
It wasn’t easy for Canton to earn a spot in the NCCC final for the third consecutive year. Windsor Locks took an early 13-2 lead and led 23-13 at halftime. The Warriors struggled against the Raiders’ zone, missing many outside shots.
But in the third quarter, Canton rode their defense back into the lead, outscoring the Raiders 20-6. The Warriors came out on fire in the third quarter with a 10-3 run with seven points from Celmer and a three-point play from Brown to cut the lead to four points.
Canton’s Paige Brown looks to get to the basket in Tuesday’s NCCC Tournament win over Windsor Locks. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)
Canton got the job done in the lane. Sophia Mates scored back-to-back layups off rebounds and Grace Treacy sank a basket off a rebound to give Canton their first lead of the game, 29-27 with 2:36 left in the third quarter.
Locks tied the game at 29-29 but Celmer scored on a layup with 1:00 left in the quarter and added a 10-foot jumper with 25 seconds left to give Canton a 33-29 lead after three quarters.
It was close down the stretch. The Raiders trimmed the lead to one point after a steal and layup with 2:40 left in the game. Rebecca Foster’s long two-point shot gave Windsor Locks a 42-41 lead only to see Canton regain the lead with 1:20 remaining on a three-point shot from Brown, 44-42.
After Brown sank one of two free throws, Windsor Locks’ Tristin Oberg scored in the lane off a rebound to cut the Canton lead to one, 45-44 with 27 seconds remaining.
Brown sank one of two free throws before teammate Gabby Schinkel scored two free throws to extend the lead to 48-44. Oberg muscled into the lane to cut the Canton lead to two, 48-46 with 13 seconds remaining.
Celmer made one of two free throws but Canton forced another Windsor Locks turnover and Brown sank another two foul shots to ice the victory for the Warriors.
Paul Amrose contributed to this story.
Canton 51, Windsor Locks 46
At Canton
Windsor Locks (46) Abby Farr 1 1 3, Alana Picard 1 4 6, Rebecca Foster 9 0 21, Angelina Jones 1 0 2, Tristin Oberg 6 0 12, Carly MacDougald 1 0 2. Totals 19 5 46
Canton (51) Allison Celmer 8 2 18, Grace Treacy 2 0 5, Gabby Schinkel 3 2 9, Claudia Boehm 1 0 2, Jenna Cuniowski 1 0 2, Paige Brown 2 5 11, Sophia Mates 2 0 4. Totals 19 9 51
Windsor Locks (15-7) 16 7 6 17 — 46
Canton (20-2) 9 4 20 18 — 51
Three-point goals: Foster (WL) 3, Treacy (Ca), Schinkel (Ca), Brown (Ca) 2
2020 NCCC Girls Basketball Tournament
Wednesday, February 19
First round
(8) Coventry 49, (9) Stafford 24
(7) East Windsor 42, (10) Somers 24
(6) Ellington 50, (11) East Granby 42
Friday, February 20
Quarterfinals
(1) Canton 52, Coventry 40
(2) Suffield 49, East Windsor 44
(3) Granby 49, Ellington 40
(4) Windsor Locks 46, (5) SMSA 36
Semifinals
Tuesday, February 25
Canton 51, Windsor Locks 46
Suffield 47, Granby 30
Championship
Thursday, February 27
Suffield at Canton, 6:45 p.m.
