CANTON - The Canton Central varsity girls basketball team recovered from its first loss of the season by turning back Potsdam 62-47 in the opening round of the Don Petty Memorial Tournament on Friday night.

The only NAC girls basketball game to survive the winter solstice snowstorm also served as the first Central Division meeting of the season between the two squads. The tournament is slated to conclude this evening with the consolation game between Edwards-Knox and Potsdam tipping off at 6 p.m. followed by the final between Canton and Hermon-DeKalb at 7:30 p.m. E-K and H-D were due to meet in the other first round matchup. E-K officials graciously offered to field their teams in both the varsity and junior varsity consolation games.

In the win over Potsdam, the Lady Golden Bears (5-1, 4-1) broke open a close game with a 21-10 second-quarter surge the put them ahead 36-23 at halftime. The Lady Sandstoners generated the first five points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to eight points and went into the fourth quarter trailing 46-36. Canton put the game out of reach with a 20-4 run over the first six minutes of the fourth quarter to go ahead 62-40 before Potsdam closed the game with seven straight points.

Senior Emma Rexford anchored a balanced offense in the win with 14 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Junior Kali Frank and freshman Tori Daley netted 13 points apiece followed by junior Emily Pinckney with eight and senior Kaeli Mace with six. Senior Jamie DiSalvo and junior Rachel Sanderson closed out the Canton scoresheet with four points each.

Senior Shanielle Chambers tossed through a game-high 15 points, including a pair of three-pointers, in the losing cause. Sophomores Breanne Sapp and Sarah Vivlamore added 12 and 10 respectively followed by senior Taylor Bonno with six. Senior Kate Hildreth and sophomore Courtney DiTullio contributed two points apiece as the Lady Sandstoners slipped to 0-6 overall and 0-5 in the Central Division.

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