BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
CANTON — Some in your face defense coupled with hot shooting from tournament MVP Cailyn VanNoy propelled Canton to a 43-29 win over NP-Liberty to win their third straight Girls’ Basketball Christmas Tournament title Saturday.
“It certainly isn’t getting any easier,” said Canton coach Ryan VanNoy. “Liberty gave us a good run tonight.”
It was length versus speed with NPL’s size giving Canton fits, while the Warriors’ tight defense gummed up the Mountie offense. In the end, Canton’s outside shooting proved to be the difference, as they hit seven 3-balls to NPL’s one.
“Our goal was to put pressure on them, and we did a pretty good job of that,” VanNoy said. “We got in a tiny bit of foul trouble down the stretch, but we didn’t get in any trouble where we had to make substitutions, which have gotten us out of our rotations. Their length gave us some problems - Liberty is notorious for running a 3-2 zone - and they’ve got very good length. They cover the passing lanes, and they make it difficult to make passes around them, and they gave us problems.”
NPL led most of the first quarter until a late Kendall Kitchen 3-ball tied things up. The Warriors then started the second quarter with three straight threes to take a 9-point lead, with NPL never really digging into that deficit at any point of the contest.
Cailyn had 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting from deep for the Warriors, while adding four rebounds, and three steals.
“It feels really good,” Cailyn said about earning MVP honors. “We came to this game really excited to win our tournament for the third year.”
Kitchen added 13 points, four assists, and four rebounds, along with some tough defense on NPL’s top scorer, Haley Litzelman, holding her to nine points in the contest.
“Kendall Kitchen is the ultimate warrior,” coach VanNoy said. “She wants to guard the best player on the floor. At halftime, she had two fouls going in, and I said, ‘you’ve got to get through the third without picking up a third foul, do you want to guard.’ And she said, ‘absolutely.’ That’s who Kendall Kitchen is.”
Alexis McRoberts added six points on 3-for-5 shooting with six boards, as Danah Wesneski netted five, and Lydia Roupp chipped in with one.
Kaylee Graham had 12 points to lead NPL, as Olivia Smith finished with six. Kendall Graham added two.
NPL struggled at the line, going 4-for-14, missing their first nine free throws of the game.
They did open with a 6-2 lead in the first half of the opening quarter as Kaylee Graham had two points and two assists for the Mounties.
A VanNoy 3-ball off a Wesneski helper cut it to 6-5. Kaylee Graham scored on a backdoor cut off a Litzelman pass to extend the lead to 8-5.
However, Kitchen hit a 3-ball in the dying seconds of the first frame off a McRoberts pass for an 8-8 score at the first horn.
Wesneski would get the Canton 3-pointers train started in the second, hitting a quick jumper off a McRoberts helper.
VanNoy then hit back to back bombs off Kitchen passes for a 17-8 lead.
“That’s felt pretty good,” Cailyn said. “I haven’t been making many lately, so it felt good to get a few in there.”
Smith would get a put back to make it a 7-point game, but six straight points from Canton - a jumper by McRoberts, followed by a lay-up, and two freebies out of Kitchen - saw Canton extend their lead to 23-10.
Litzelman looked to be heating up with a jumper, and then a pull-up 3-ball in transition to make it 23-15.
Canton, though, ended the half on a 4-0 run as McRoberts got a put back, and Kitchen a driving lay-up to take a 27-15 lead into the locker rooms.
The two teams traded buckets early in the third, but, unfortunately for NPL, it was twos for threes.
Litzelman opened with a put back, but VanNoy answered with a 3-ball.
Litzelman would find Kaylee Graham for a lay-up, but VanNoy knocked in another 3-pointer to extend their lead to 33-19 halfway through the third.
NPL would go on a 4-1 run to cut it to 34-23, but a McRoberts jumper off a VanNoy assist saw Canton push the lead to 13 points going into the final frame.
After the two teams traded free throws Kitchen got a steal and lay-up to push the lead to 39-24 with 5:10 left to play.
Kaylee Graham went 1-for-2 from the line for a 39-25 score halfway through the fourth.
After that Canton went into clock killing mode, successfully shortening the game while turning NPL over at the other end.
A pair of freebies by Kaylee Graham with just 1:30 left to play made it a 12 point game, but that’s as close as it would get.
Back to back lay-ups from Kitchen and Wesneski would ice the game in the final minute.
“We knew it would be a tough game, but we had a game plan - go straight at them, and it was fun,” Cailyn said.
Canton (5-3) hits the road next, traveling to NP-Mansfield on January 6, so they do have some time to practice as they head into the New Year.
“We’ve got a tough week coming up,” Coach VanNoy said. “We’ve got a little time off here, but then we’ve got Mansfield, and then we go to Northeast, and then we’ve got Liberty again - so that’s going to be a tough week. Obviously, winning the tournament is good for the kids, it’s good for our energy level. We’re in a good spot, we’ve just got to keep working day in, and day out, and our motto is work, so that’s what we’ll do, and we’ll see where we end up.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
