Sophia Mates and Avery Brown each had a career-high in points as the Canton High girls basketball team moved into the finals of the Fred Kelly Memorial Tournament in North Haven on Tuesday with a 50-42 victory over Morgan School.
The Warriors (2-0) will face host North Haven (3-1) in Wednesday’s championship game beginning at 5 p.m. Amistad and Morgan square off in the consolation game at 3 p.m.
Mates had a career-high 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while Brown scored a career-high 16 points and had three assists and three rebounds.
Canton coach Brian Medeiros was pleased with the play of the Warriors across the board. “This was a complete team with as we had eight players contribute defensively and seven players in the scoring column,” he said.
“Defensively, we did a very good job limiting and frustrating Morgan’s best two offensive weapons,” Medeiros said. “Carley Ayer scored 17 but she had to work for everything she got and Ava Johnson scored five (points).”
In Morgan’s most recent game, Johnson sank six three-point shots.
Canton’s Madisyn Reardon and Hanna Glassey combined to pull down 13 rebounds.
“Today was a great team win, Medeiros said. “I’m really pleased for the group as a whole. We did some really nice things, and I hope this is a confidence booster as we move forward with the season.”
Mates surpassed the 20 points she had against Sheehan last January while Brown eclipsed the 15-point effort she had against Farmington in December 2021.
Canton will be looking for their first regular season tournament title since winning two games to win their own Canton Holiday Tournament in 2019.
NOTE: The tournament is named after Fred Kelly, a long-time North Haven resident who died in 2016 at the age of 96. He founded the North Haven Little League and helped found and organize the North Haven Tomahawk club, a booster club for male student athletes and served as the organization’s president for more than 50 years. The school gym was renamed in his honor in 2006.
Canton 50, Morgan 42
At North Haven
Canton (50): Sophia Mates 10 1-3 21, Avery Brown 6 4-5 16, Gabby DelSanto 1-0-3, Sam Yanke 1-0-2, Madisyn Reardon 1 1-2 4, Brooke Czerwinski 0-0-0, Hanna Glassey 1-0-2, Heather Delbone 1-0-2. Totals 20 6-10 50
Morgan (42): Carley Ayer 5 6-8 17, Katie Martin 2 4-5 8, Victoria O’Neill 3 0-1 6, Ava Johnson 2-0-5, Sofie Passante 2 0-2 4, Eva O’Sullivan 1-0-2, Totals: 15 10-16 42
Canton (2-0) 15 13 11 11 – 50
Morgan (1-2) 6 13 13 10 – 42
Three-point goals: Ayer (M), Johnson (M), DelSanto (C)
