Canon-Mac gets defensive in win over USC
CANONSBURG – Coming off their first loss of the season against North Hills on Tuesday night, there was a determination for the Canon-McMillan girls basketball team to get back on track.
Big Macs coach John Fontana said the team had the right response with their two best days of practice.
And it translated well, especially defensively Friday night against Upper St. Clair.
Faye Saunders had a game-high 14 points and was part of a strong defensive effort in a 49-36 win for the Big Macs in their Class 6A Section 2 opener.
The Big Macs held the Panthers to only 12 points between the second and third quarters.
“We were full of passion and wanted to get back into the win column,” Fontana said. “The team responded well.
“Sam Miller did a fabulous job defensively on (Upper St. Clair point guard Ryan) Prunzik,” Fontana said. “Prunzik is a great point guard, but the job Sam did on her slowed down their offense.”
In the second game of the night, Mt. Lebanon used a second half rally to down Canon-McMillan 50-43.
Canon-McMillan and Upper St. Clair played three times last year. The two teams split in the regular season, but Upper St. Clair beat the Big Macs in the second round of the state playoffs on its way to an appearance in the PIAA finals.
Canon-McMillan lost 44-43 to North Hills Tuesday, but didn’t let it fester.
The Big Macs led 19-14 at halftime and were able to stretch the margin in the third.
Baskets by Lauren Borrella and Saunders followed by a transition three-pointer from Sam Miller gave Canon-McMillan the first double-digit lead for either team at 26-16.
Borrella made a bucket and two free throws with a basket by Saunders on a nifty passing play in the key and the lead ballooned to 36-22 at the end of the third.
Upper St. Clair made a bit of a run to get it to within 11 points in the fourth, but Brooke Stanton made a shot inside, while being fouled and sank the free throw to make it 46-32 with 2:40 remaining, which essentially sealed the game.
“It feels really good to win,” Saunders said. “After North Hills there was a determination to come back strong. We had so much energy going into this game.”
With the win, the Big Macs improved to 20-3 overall at home since Fontana took over.
“This is the third time that we’ve beaten Upper St. Clair here in the last three years, but they’ve got us at their place,” Fontana said. “They are a good basketball team with a legendary coach Suzie McConnell-Serio.”
A combination of strong defense and some missed opportunities on layups made for a low-scoring first half.
Upper St. Clair led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter. Caroline Barnard and Mackenzie Pope made a three-pointer each the frame. One of Canon-McMillan’s senior standouts Sam Miller picked up two fouls in the first four minutes and sat on the bench for the remainder of the half.
The Panthers found it much tougher sledding to get off any good shots in the second.
Canon-McMillan had three blocked shots and it helped give it a 10-4 advantage in the frame to take a 19-14 lead into halftime.
Brooke Stanton canned a three-pointer to give the Big Macs a 16-14 lead. Faye Saunders made one of two free throws and Miller converted a runner in the lane as the Big Macs closed the half on a 6-0 run.
Saunders, along with her offensive effort, had the task of defending Ekaterina Polstyanko, Upper St. Clair’s standout forward and she limited her to eight points.
Nobody on the Panthers scored in double figures.
“We knew going in that Upper St. Clair is a really good team and I made sure to watch a lot of film on (Postyanko), because she’s a very good player,” Saunders said. “Our mindset is that defense turns into offense, so we went into it looking over film and really reviewing how we could do our best to effectively stop them.”
Mt. Lebanon, 50-43
Canon-McMillan held a three-point halftime lead, but Mt. Lebanon came out of the second half on fire.
After scoring only 18 points over the first two quarters, the Blue Devils more than doubled their output in the third, scoring 23 points to take control and earn a victory in a Class 6A Section 2 game.
That gave the Blue Devils a 41-33 lead and they weren’t threatened in the fourth.
Jacob Zaber paced Mt. Lebanon with 17 points and Liam Sheely scored 16.
Roman Koenemund led the Big Macs with 14 points and Blake Simmons chipped in eight points.