Canby’s offense falters in second half of loss to Edgerton
MARSHALL — Points were at a premium in Saturday’s girls basketball game between Canby and Edgerton at Southwest Minnesota State University’s Holiday Classic. The two teams combined for 23 points in the first half but a 16-0 run from Edgerton after the break resulted in the Lancers falling 33-26.
Canby was held scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the game before consecutive layups from Brynn Kockelman and Izabelle Hulzebos tied the game up at 4-4.
The Dutchmen knocked down a free throw to go back up but Danielson took over for the Lancers from there. She hit a pair of free throws with 12 minutes remaining to give Canby its first lead. The Dutchmen answered with one free throw but Canby held the Dutchmen scoreless for nearly eight minutes from there.
Danielson continued to roll the Lancers ahead with back-to-back layups. After a drought of a few minutes, Danielson hit deep 2 from the corner to bring Canby’s lead up to 12-5.
Edgerton ended its drought at the free-throw line, making one of two attempts, but Josie Frank rattled in a 3 from the top of the key to get the points right back. After another few scoreless minutes, Addison Driessen knocked down a 3 from the wing at the buzzer to send Canby into the locker room for halftime with an 18-6 advantage.
After halftime, however, the Canby offense stalled out. While the defense was effective in slowing down the Dutchmen, they weren’t able to half them entirely and Edgerton capitalized on Canby’s struggles. Edgerton shut out Canby for the first seven minutes of the second half. Kya Voge went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to bring the Dutchmen within a point, and a Reese Vande Griend layup gave Edgerton the lead back at 19-18 with nine minutes remaining.
It wasn’t until nearly 11 minutes into the half that Danielson got Canby back on the board, stepping through into a layup attempt. While the shot didn’t fall, she earned a pair of free throws and hit them both to end Edgerton’s 16-0 run and bring Canby back within one possession, 22-20.
Yet, Vande Griend hit consecutive layups to re-extend Edgerton’s lead to 6 points and an Elliot Fleischman 3-pointer brought the score to 29-20 in favor of the Dutchmen.
The Lancers were never able to fight their way back into the game, though layups from Kockelman and Danielson in the final minute brought Canby back within single digits.
After a four-game winning streak from Dec. 5 through Dec. 16, Canby has now lost back-to-back games to fall below .500 at 4-5. The Lancers will look to even up their record on the season when they host Class 2A Luverne (1-8) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.