Girls hoop dominates rivals for season’s 2nd win
By Mike Berger
Freshman Deanna Kolokithas puts up a floater while surrounded by Stoughton defenders. (Mike Tureski photo)
It’s tough to lose a trio of legendary players — including two of the program’s all-time leading scorers — in the same graduating class and find a way to replace them in the lineup the following season.
But CHS head girls basketball coach Jim Choquette enjoys the challenge and is excited about the play of his new-look squad thus far. After an absence due to the holidays, the Bulldogs returned to action last week and kicked off the new year in style, dominating rival Stoughton 50-25.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 2-2 in the Davenport Division, which put them in the No. 2 spot behind first-place Foxboro (5-1)
This year’s Canton team features a dominant center-forward in senior Samya DaSilva and she came alive in the fourth period, scoring eight points and grabbing 12 rebounds, including four offensive boards on one play before hitting a shot.
Canton’s strength is in the front court with senior forward Erin Beatty adding nine points in the Stoughton win. Another new shooter to the mix is junior Mercia Kolokithas, who added six points. Senior Emily McCabe and sophomore Ava McCoole, who Choquette said was the team’s most improved player from a year ago, both chipped in five points.
Allowing no more than eight points per quarter and only three points in the final period, the Bulldogs once again looked strong on defense — which was a staple of last year’s state quarterfinalist team.
The Bulldogs raced out to a 29-14 halftime lead and led by 16 after three quarters. Everyone some playing time in the win, including reserves Sally Hoban, Deanna Kolokithas, Fatima Sidibay, Jess Wright and Caira McKinney.
The only negative to Friday’s home victory were the turnovers hitting double digits. Choquette said that total should diminish with more practice and players realizing their roles in the system.
“I love this team,” he said. “They compete like crazy, whether in a game or in practice. Everyone wants to be so successful all at once. They so much want to make the playoffs. That’s the standard the program has set the last seven years. We have and will continue to have growing pains. We should not have lost the game to Taunton (56-52) after being up by 12 points, but we will learn from that and go forward. We will need some patience as we have a lot of new players in new roles.”
The Bulldogs have a busty week ahead with a Monday night game at Notre Dame, an away game the next night at Milford, and a home game against rival Oliver Ames Friday evening at CHS starting at 6:30 p.m. During halftime of the Stoughton game, two middle school teams played in a scrimmage and then took photos with the varsity team after the game.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=100732
Posted by Mike Berger
on Jan 13 2023. Filed under High School, Sports.
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