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Sports

Schmitt Leads Canton Girls Past John Glenn

Chiefs win their third straight KLAA South Division title Friday 45-36.

Defense and solid free-throw shooting helped the girls basketball team take a third straight Kensington Lakes Activities Association South Division title Friday night with a 45-36 home victory over Westland John Glenn.

Kari Schmitt sank 10 of 13 from the line in the fourth quarter to help hold off the determined Rockets. Coach Brian Samulski wasn’t surprised his team kept its cool in response to Westland’s barrage of fouls.

“That group there, there’s no situation they can’t handle,” he said. “This is their third year on varsity for most of them, so they know how to do it. You don’t have to say a whole lot to them. They just step up and get the job done.”

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“We’ve won the past three now so we’re keeping the streak going,” said Schmitt, who finished as the game’s high-scorer with 18 points. “It’s really exciting for the seniors. It feels good.”

The Chiefs head into next week’s KLAA tournament with a 14-2 overall record and a 10-0 mark in the conference.  Canton has handed Westland (14-2, 8-2) its only losses of the season.

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“My girls were prepared the first time, but I don’t think they were ready for what Canton brings to the floor,” Rockets coach Mark Anderson said. He noted that his team lost by 18 to the Chiefs in January “They’re very well-coached and they run their offense like its clock work. But my girls, tonight, really competed.”

Canton dominated early by jumping out to an 8-0 lead. Westland, in fact, didn’t score for the first seven minutes of the game.

The Chiefs couldn’t put the game away, however. Ice-cold shooting allowed John Glenn to pull within a point at the 5:34 mark of the second quarter.

“We were 6 of 26 in the first half and we missed a lot of layups,” Samulski said. “Our whole thing was, ‘hang in there and keep getting great shots and they’ll go in during the second half.'”

Canton took a 14-12 lead into halftime.

Ahead 22-20 with less than a minute to go in the third quarter, Schmitt sank a pair of free throws and Rachel Winters followed with a jumper from the left wing to give Canton breathing room to start the fourth.

The Chiefs kept firing to start the final frame and went up 31-20 at the 6:25 mark when CarolAnn Sexauer nailed a 3-pointer. Westland then began fouling Canton in hopes of getting back in the game. The visitors got the lead down to four with a minute to go, but Schmitt’s steady hand at the free-throw line sealed the win.

“These kind of games are what you play for,” the senior said.

Samulski praised his team’s defensive effort.

“That’s a great team with great players,” he said of John Glenn, “holding them in the 30s is a credit to our kids. They got down and got after it defensively.”

Anderson said his team did all it could to win and was proud his Rockets kept fighting back.

“That just goes to show, we can play,” he said. “The girls played together, they played hard, they played smart and that’s all we can really ask from them.”

Kayla Bridges added 10 points for Canton, and Sara Schmitt nine. Westland was led by 17 from Shakeya Graves.

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