Girls’ hoop still battling despite winless start

The Canton High girls’ basketball team endured another tough week on the scoreboard, dropping back-to-back home games against division foes Sharon and Stoughton to fall to 0-8 overall.

The Bulldogs are now the only team in the vaunted Hockomock League still searching for their first win, although new head coach Jim Choquette still has high hopes for this team moving forward.

Junior captain Gabby Kenefick (Mike Barucci photo)

“I see wins every single day,” said Choquette, who has a track record of turning around floundering programs. “I see a freshman do something that she’s never done before. I see the girls playing excellent defense. I see success in a little different way.”

“I know we’re doing things the right way and I know we’re getting better,” he added.

Choquette said most of the team’s struggles to date can be attributed to two factors: turnovers and a lack of scoring.

“We’ve focused a lot on defense and the girls are playing great in that area,” he said. “For instance, on Friday, we held Stoughton to only 40 points, but we scored just 32 ourselves and we had 30-plus turnovers — which is definitely alarming.”

The Bulldogs did play much better offensively in the fourth quarter against the Black Knights, scoring more than half of their points and getting big contributions from junior captain Eileen Khoury, who led the team in scoring for the second straight game.

Canton also played a strong first half against undefeated Sharon last Tuesday, although they struggled to contain Eagles standout Karlie O’Driscoll en route to a 61-34 defeat.

“We were double teaming her, but she was scoring like crazy,” Choquette said of the league MVP candidate.

On the bright side, Canton was able to neutralize both of Sharon’s other top scoring options, Lily Abarbanel and Andrea Bender. Sophomore guard Shannon Foley played suffocating defense on Abarbanel — who scored just five points after dropping 33 on Canton last year — and junior captain Gabby Kenefick held Bender scoreless in the second half.

The Bulldogs’ struggles mostly came on the offensive end and at the free-throw line, where they shot just 36 percent (9 for 25) as a team.

Scoring woes aside, Choquette still believes in the talent on this year’s team and feels it’s only a matter of time before the girls break out of their recent shooting slump.

“We’re getting a lot of the shots that we’re looking for, but right now we’re just not making them,” he said.

Choquette said he could see the girls getting their first win and then getting “two or three more” once they get into a groove. Of course, doing so would mean getting past some pretty tough opponents, starting this week with a road game against highly ranked Franklin (6-1). The team then travels to Foxboro (3-3) on Friday and will host undefeated Blue Hills Regional on Monday, January 20.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jan 16 2014. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.