Katelynn Krause looks for a teammate to pass to during the third quarter of Thursday's game.

Canton withstands noble Salem effort to advance to conference final

BY ED WRIGHT
Feb. 18, 2010, 9:29 p.m.

  Some players would have called it a night after getting jolted by an inadvertent elbow in the face with such force that it loosened a couple of their teeth and sent their head spinning for a second or two.

  But Canton's Sara Schmitt would accept nothing short of stepping back out into the fray once her mind cleared during the third quarter of Thursday night's rough-and-tumble KLAA Conference semifinal game at Salem.
 
  Hey, she's a hockey player.

  Schmitt's toughness has rubbed off on the Chiefs' state-ranked basketball team all season, and Thursday night was no exception when Brian Samulski's state-ranked contingent held off a valiant Salem effort to post a 39-28 victory in the semi-final round of the KLAA Kensington Conference playoffs.

  Why is the Chiefs' defense so tough to break?

  "It's our toughness and we're all athletic," said Schmitt, who was set to make an emergency trip to the dentist office either late Thursday night or early Friday. "We all step up and help on defense, too, and we can read what people on the other teams are doing easily. It kind of comes to you."

  As has been their method of operations most of the season, Canton held Salem to four third-quarter points and eight in the fourth, thanks to a swarming, sliding  defensive scheme that makes it appear at times as if there are seven Chiefs on the floor at once.

  "We did a good job of helping on defense tonight," Schmitt added. "They have a couple of great players in Stone and de Bear, who we needed to shut down. I think we did a pretty good job tonight."

  Stone poured in a team-high 13 points, but managed to get to the free throw line just two times despite the physical nature of the game. de Bear added eight points, which included an early triple, and Heidi Schmidt contributed five.

  Six players accounted for all of Canton's points. Kari Schmitt led the way with 12, Robyn Mack added 10 and Sara Schmitt, Kayla Bridges and CarolAnn Sexaur all netted five. Melanie Pickert chipped in with two for the winners.

  The game was nip-and-tuck throughout the first quarter, which ended with the Chiefs in front, 11-7. Salem battled to take a 16-15 lead on a Heidi Schmidt putback with 2:20 left in the second stanza, but Canton closed with a  Sexauer-inspired eight-point run to carry a 23-16 lead into the break.

  Salem remained within striking distance until mid-way through the third quarter when a 26-20 Canton lead suddenly expanded to 36-23 edge thank to a 10-3 streak that dragged over to the midway point of the third quarter.

  "I thought both teams just played so hard," emphasized Salem coach Fred Thomann. "I thought we gave them a good battle there. We had a couple shots that rimmed out and we could have made a couple more stops, it's a four-point game.

  "What hurt us is that we didn't get to the free throw line (the Rocks shot six free throws). Sara was getting bumped all night inside but she couldn't get any calls. If we go to the line at all tonight it changes the dynamics of the game because now all of a sudden they're in a little bit of foul trouble and they can't play as aggressive as they play."

  Canton went to the line 18 times compared to Salem six free throws. The Chiefs buried 10 of their attempts while Salem hit three.

  The Chiefs will host Novi (16-2) on Monday at 7 p.m. in the KLAA Kensington Conference championship game. A win in that game will propel the Chiefs into the KLAA Association title showdown.

  Ed Wright can be contacted at (734) 453-1980 or at info@plymouthcantonsports.com