The Warriors celebrated with head coach Brian Medeiros, who has the most career wins for a girls basketball coach in school history after Canton beat Ellington last week.
CANTON, Feb. 12, 2022 – The Canton High girls basketball team continues to grow and get prepared for the post-season.
The Warriors (8-10, 8-3 NCCC) won two of four games last week and head coach Brian Medeiros is looking forward to see what his team can do in the upcoming NCCC Tournament and Class S tournament.
On Saturday, the Warriors dropped a 63-45 decision to Cromwell despite a game-high 26 points from Jenna Cuniowski. Sophia Mates added 15 for Canton. The Panthers (13-4) were led by Adela Cecunjanin with 18 points. Cromwell raced out to a quick 14-4 lead before the Warriors could get started.
“I felt the girls played really hard for four quarters, something that’ve we struggled to do over the course of the year,” Medeiros said. “Cromwell is a really good team, and they make you work for everything. They put so much pressure on you defensively as they have so many offensive weapons.
“I thought this was a really good test for us as we go into the final week of the season and the conference/state tournaments,” he said. “There are a lot of positives to take away from this game and more importantly this week of basketball. We will be prepared for whatever challenge we see over the next month.
“I’m really encouraged and truly feel this team will make a run to close this season,” Medeiros said.
The Warriors close out the regular season with a pair of games. Canton hosts HMTCA on Monday at 5 p.m. and travels to Bolton on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
On Friday night, Cuniowski had a career-high 27 points with Mates scoring 17, pulling down 12 rebounds and making six blocks in a 62-49 win over East Granby. Avery Brown chipped with 13 for the Warriors, including eight in the third quarter.
Canton looked sharp in the first half and led by 16 points at halftime, 36-20. Cuniowski and Mates combined 29 of those 36 points. The Crusaders cut the lead to six at one point before the Warriors recovered to extend the lead back to nine after three quarters.
On Tuesday night, Cuniowski scored 17 points and Brown added 12 points in a 48-40 win over Ellington. Mates scored 11 points. With the win Medeiros became the all-time leader in career wins among girls basketball coaches at Canton.
Canton trailed by eight points at the half but had an excellent third quarter effort.
“Our third quarter might have been the best basketball we’ve played all year as we excelled in all phases of the game – defense, rebounding, decision making, shooting and overall team play,” Medeiros said.
Canton led by 10 after three quarters and added the first four points of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 14. Leading by 10 with four minutes remaining, Ellington turned up their defensive pressure causing numerous turnovers and the Knights cut the lead to 42-40 with 1:30 remaining.
But Mates calmly stepped to the line and sank six free throws in the final minute to lift Canton to an eight-point win, 48-40.
The win over the Purple Knights was the 166th win for Medeiros, who is in his ninth season with the Warriors. The victory set his career record to 166-47. Medeiros has led the Warriors to four NCCC titles, four appearances in the Class S state championship games and two Class S titles in 2016 and 2017.
Medeiros passed Paul Grossman, who coached the Warriors for 10 seasons from 1992 through 2001 and finished with a career record of 165-73. Medeiros is closing in on the most wins for a basketball coach in school history. Bill Mudano won 173 games in 15 years with the boys program from 1974-88.
On Monday, Somers used a strong second quarter performance (20 points) to pull away from the Warriors with a 45-28 decision.
Cromwell 62, Canton 45
At Cromwell
Canton (45) Jenna Cuniowski 12 0-2 26, Sophia Mates 7 1-2 15, Ashelyn Cebollero 0-0-0, Avery Brown 0 4-5 4, Gabby DelSanto 0-0-0, Avery Miller 0-0-0, Sam Yanke 0-0-0, Madisyn Reardon 0-0-0, Rachel Renaud 0-0-0, Julia Lau 0-0-0, Rachel Renaud 0-0-0, Juliana Cavanaugh 0-0-0, Hannah Webb 0-0-0, Totals: 19-5-45
Cromwell (62) Grace Mikan 4-0-12, Cameryn Hickey 2 1-2 5, Jessica Grodzicki 5 2-2 13, Nevaeh Clark 4 6-6 14, Adela Cecunjanin 6 3-4 18, Totals: 21-12-62
Canton (8-10) 13 13 17 2 — 45
Cromwell (13-4) 20 13 20 9 — 62
Three-point goals: Cuniowski (Can) 2, Mikan (Crom) 4, Grodzicki (Crom), Cecunjanin (Crom) 3
Canton 62, East Granby 49
At East Granby
Canton (62) Jenna Cuniowski 10 7-8 27, Sophia Mates 8 1-1 17, Ashelyn Cebollero 1-0-2, Avery Brown 5 1-2 13, Gabby DelSanto 1-0-2, Avery Miller 0-0-0, Sam Yanke 0-0-0, Madisyn Reardon 0-0-0, Rachel Renaud 0-0-0, Julia Lau 0-0-0, Rachel Renaud 0-0-0, Juliana Cavanaugh 0-0-0, Hannah Webb 0-0-0, Totals: 25 9-11 62
East Granby (49) Megan Benner 3-0-7, Sarah Springer 0 2-2 2, Ava Gayer 8-0-16, Sarah Phillips 2-0-4, Julia Wash 5-0-11, Chloe Rapore 3 1-2 7, Taylor Hayes 0 0-2 0, Brooke DeJesus 1-0-2, Totals: 22 3-6 49
Canton (8-9) 19 17 14 12 — 62
East Granby (5-12) 9 11 21 8 – 49
Three-point goals: Brown (C) 2, Benner (EG), Wash (EG)
Canton 48, Ellington 40
At Ellington
Canton (48) Sophia Mates 3 5 11; Gabby DelSanto 1 1-4; Jenna Cuniowski 7 2 17; Ashelyn Cebollero 1 0-2; Avery Brown 5 1 12; Avery Miller 0 2 2; Totals: 17 12-18 48
Ellington (40) Sophia Vrakas 3 0 6; Liz McGuirl 2 1 5; Hannah Kozik 2 1 5; Jenna Garrow 1 0 2; Julia Sternat 3 0 9; Jaela Garrow 1 0 2; Grace Bontempo 2 0 4; Ali Kozik 3 1 7; Cady Pincince 0 0 0; Abbie Tishon 0 0-0; Totals: 17 3-11 40
Canton (7-9) 10 8 19 11 — 48
Ellington (7-7) 12 10 5 13 — 40
Three-point goals: DelSanto (C), Cuniowski (C), Brown (C), Sternat (Ell) 3
Somers 45, Canton 28
At Somers
Canton (28) Jenna Cuniowski 6 0-2 12, Sophia Mates 4 0-3 8, Ashelyn Cebollero 1-0-2, Avery Brown 1 0-2 0, Gabby DelSanto 1-0-2, Avery Miller 1 0-2 0, Sam Yanke 0-0-0, Madisyn Reardon 0-0-0, Rachel Renaud 0-0-0, Julia Lau 0-0-0, Rachel Renaud 0-0-0, Juliana Cavanaugh 0-0-0, Hannah Webb 0-0-0, Totals: 14-0-28
Somers (45) Sydney Cassidy 2-0-5, Deidae Dalessio 2 2-3 7, Devon Dalessio 3-0-6, Shea Cassidy 1-0-2, Eliana Wood 7 2-3 19, Taylor Illuzzi 2-0-4, Erin Donahue 1-0-2, Totals: 18-4-45
Canton (6-9) 8 6 12 2 — 28
Somers (12-3) 9 20 4 12 — 45
Three-point goals: Cassidy (S), Dalessio (S), Wood (S) 3
