Basketball Recap: Canterbury Snaps Four-Game Streak of Wins at Home

Canterbury entered their match against Evangelical Christian on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The Canterbury Cougars took a 56-51 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Evangelical Christian Sentinels. The Cougars lost against the Sentinels in their previous head to head back in February of 2022, too, but the margin this time around was much closer than the 58-26 score last time.

Canterbury's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Casey O'Connell, who almost dropped a double-double on 18 points and nine rebounds. The game was O'Connell's third in a row with at least ten points. Kaya Langford was another key player, going 5 for 12 on her way to 14 points and six rebounds.

Evangelical Christian was led to victory by Kellisia Grant and Areille Marc. Grant went 7 of 12 on her way to 25 points and seven rebounds, while Marc went 5 of 11 on her way to 16 points. Those 25 points gave Grant a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Nalah Smith, who posted six points in addition to seven boards and three steals.

Canterbury's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 6-1. As for Evangelical Christian, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 5-3.

Canterbury will venture away from home to take on Lemon Bay at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Canterbury is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 55.5 points per game this season. Evangelical Christian will take on Gateway in a holiday battle at at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Gateway has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.