Raiders pull away in fourth quarter for win over Canton

Stepping up the game in the fourth quarter led the Windsor Locks Raiders to a win over the Canton Warriors, on Jan. 25.

The two teams battled back-and-forth and were tied at the end of the third quarter, but a flurry of points early in the fourth propelled Windsor Locks to a 41-33 victory.

Windsor Locks coach Doug Knowe said his team may have given itself momentum with those first few buckets in the last frame.

“We knew it was going to be a battle and our kids made shots tonight. We’ve had a couple of games where we haven’t been hitting shots. As we hit shots, good feelings start to happen and carry over,” he said.

The Raiders improved to 7-4 and the Warriors went to 3-7. But Knowe said the difference in record didn’t change the approach to facing Canton.

“When you play Canton, you don’t look at the record,” he said. “This is a big one for us, and for our conference [standing] going forward, as well as in the Class S tournament. It was excellent that we shared the basketball the way we did and had multiple players scoring.”

“I thought, in the third quarter, we kind of allowed them back in,” said Canton coach Brian Medeiros. “Every time we took a three or four-point lead, there was a mental mistake on our end that allowed them to get back in. In the fourth, I thought they just got more points than us. They won more 50-50 balls and they made timely shots while we went cold.”

Jasmine Hurdle and Carly MacDougald each had 12 points for Windsor Locks. Canton’s Avery Brown had 11 and Jenna Cuniowski had 10.

Heading toward the final stretch of the season, Knowe said his team just needs a little more passing and scoring.

“We just need to get better at moving the ball and hit more open shots,” he said.

Medieros said he was proud of how his team played, but that it needs to play a little harder.

“Sometimes we wait until the last possible second. Instead of being proactive, we’re being reactive. We need to be more on our toes and less on our heels,” he said. “Those things add up and lead to a basket here and a basket there.”

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