Canton storms past St. Vincent in sectional

TROY -- After winning its third straight district title, the St. Vincent girls basketball team had hopes of breaking a two-year losing streak in the sectional round of the playoffs.

Powerhouse Canton put a quick end to those thoughts.

Canton took control from the outset and crushed the Indians 71-40 on Wednesday.

The Tigers, ranked third in the most recent Class 2 state poll, improved to 27-2 heading into Saturday's quarterfinal round. The Indians finished their season at 13-15.

"They were a load," St. Vincent coach Mary Rozier said. "I was thinking during the game, 'What could we do?'"

Not much, as it turned out.

Rozier said she knew the Tigers would be strong, but still held out hope St. Vincent could compete.

"Just from what coaches told us, I knew they were good, but you never know until you get on the court," Rozier said.

Senior guard Courtney Besand led the Indians with 16 points as she matched her season average. But no other St. Vincent player scored more than four points.

"They were good," Besand said. "We'd never seen them play, but they definitely showed us what was up."

Junior forward Tori Niemann paced the Tigers with 27 points, 23 coming in the first half. She averages 23 points per game.

Junior guard Jessie Logsdon added 18 points for Canton, 13 in the first half.

"I thought we sputtered for a couple of minutes early," Canton coach Seth Minter said. "But we score in bunches. Once we get going, we're hard to stop."

St. Vincent held two early leads of 2-0 and 4-2.

Canton went ahead for good midway through the first quarter, and the Tigers romped the rest of the way.

It was 19-8 after one period, 45-19 at halftime and 66-26 entering the fourth quarter.

The Tigers scored the first basket of the final period to open up the night's biggest advantage at 68-26.

With most of Canton's starters on the bench, St. Vincent tallied the next 14 points to pull within 68-40 and stop the running clock for a short while before the Tigers closed out the 31-point win.

"We could have come out stronger," Besand said when asked if St. Vincent could have done anything different. "I think we weren't really ready for this situation."

Rozier pointed out that the Indians still have three straight district titles to be proud of.

"They have nothing to be ashamed of," Rozier said.

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:

Canton1926215--71

St. Vincent811714--40

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:CANTON (71) -- Jamie Janney 3, Tori Niemann 27, Kristyn Caldwell 10, Kara Uhlmeyer 3, Jessie Logsdon 18, Ashleigh Otts 2, Aron Taylor 2, Lindsey Lillard 6. FG: 31, FT 6-9, F 14. (3-pointers: Janney 1, Caldwell 2. Fouled out: None)

ST. VINCENT (40) -- Chelsie Boxdorfer 3, Courtney Besand 16, Lindsey Wehmeyer 4, Amanda Wengert 4, Courtney Heberlie 4, Valerie Finger 4, Brianna Burroughs 2, Kali Wingerter 3. FG: 16, FT 7-14, F 13. (3-pointers: Heberlie 1; fouled out: None)