Canton Girls Basketball Loses District Title to Northville

The girls varsity basketball team suffered a tough loss to Northville Friday night, losing the district final 24-25 at Novi High School.

Canton had previously won the last three straight district championships and had gone to the final four the past two seasons. This was the first district win for Northville in 26 years.

Canton beat Northville in the first round of the KLAA playoffs 39-23, but the Chiefs could not win the defensive struggle Friday night in the finals.

The game had a slow offensive start, and Canton had the lead at halftime. Early back-to-back possessions in the third quarter brought the Chiefs to a 17-10 lead, and it looked as if the game was going their way. Northville then scored a 3-pointer and a basket, but Canton responded with another basket, bringing the score to 23-19 at the end of the third quarter.

Northville amped up its defensive pressure in the fourth quarter, and the Mustangs took a 25-23 lead. A Mustang foul sent Canton to the free throw line with just a minute left to play. Canton made one of the two shots, bringing the Chiefs to within one point of the Mustangs at 24-25.

Canton grabbed a turnover from Northville with 41 seconds to play. A missed 3-point shot was rebounded by the Chiefs with just 4 seconds to go. Both teams took timeouts, and Northville fouled Canton on the inbound, bringing the clock down to 2.7 seconds. After another timeout by Northville, the Mustangs stole the inbound pass and sealed their win. Northville will now move onto the regional semifinal on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Farmington High School.

The Chiefs shot 8-39, or 20.5 percent, while Northville was 10-25 at 40 percent.