'D'ecisive
Victory

Tough-to-score-on Chiefs roll, 51-16

Jan. 13, 2010, 12:50 a.m.

  Canton's girls basketball team did not have 10 players on the court at one time during Tuesday night's KLAA South Division contest against Livonia Churchill.

  It just seemed that way to the Chargers.

  Fueled by its trademark tenacious defense, Canton humbled its overmatched visitors, 51-16, to up its record to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the division. Churchill, which entered the game playing well, slipped to 4-3 and 0-2, respectively.

  The Chiefs' relentless man-to-man defense shut out Churchill in the first and third quarters.

  Canton led 19-7 at the half before erasing any doubts with a 16-0 third-quarter run.

  "Obviously, we came out and defended well," said Canton coach Brian Samulski. "The main things with us are still defense and rebounding. The girls did a nice job with both of those tonight."

  The Chiefs are far from a one-dimensional unit. They can also score, particularly sharp-shooting CarolAnn Sexauer, who burned the nets for 16 points. She also yanked down five offensive rebounds.

  Kari Schmitt filled up her line on the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots, while Yuki Krolicki had her second straight strong offensive performance with eight points.

  Robyn Mack and Kayla Bridges both contributed six points.

  Taylor Kerr led the Chargers with seven points.

  The Chiefs made just two of eight free throws, but with their defense running on all cylinders, it didn't matter.