Saline Girls Knock Off Top Seed Belleville

The Saline girls' basketball team hit on all cylinders Wednesday night as the Hornets knocked off top seed Belleville.

The teams were even for the first 12 minutes with Belleville holding a three-point lead midway through the second. 

Saline would get hot from the outside and close the half on a 13-4 run with the help of four triples to take a 26-20 halftime lead. 

Belleville fought back early in the third and cut the lead to three. Sophie Canen answered with an and-one to push the lead back two six and the Hornets gained the momentum back from there.

"I thought Sophie played with great poise and helped us control the tempo," Coach Leigh Ann Roehm said. "She was perfect from the line tonight and that was huge as well."

A key moment happened late in the third with the Hornets leading by seven. Canen was forced to the bench after picking up her third foul and Belleville looked to take advantage of the Hornets top scorer on the bench. Saline made a stop and Ella Dean hit a huge three-pointer to push the Saline lead to 36-26 and they would never look back. 

"I thought the difference was the way so many players stepped up in big moments. Taylor, Kate, Ella and Kadyn all made huge buckets down the stretch and Beth Ann and Anna really did a job on the glass in the second half," Roehm said.

Canen finished with a team-high 20 points, 7 rebounds, and three blocks. 

A big key for the Hornets was the balanced scoring from several of players with four other layers scoring six or more.

Kadyn Maida recorded eight points and Dead finished with six. Stemmer finished with seven points, including two triples to spark the second quarter run to put the Hornets on top at halftime. Stemmer also grabbed ten boards and had four assists. Taylor Kangas chipped in with six points and three blocks, Beth Ann Ford four points and six boards, and Anna Hesse two points and eight rebounds.
"I couldn’t be prouder of this team. They stepped out with confidence and owned their awesomeness. Belleville is a talented team that puts a lot of pressure on you, and I thought the team handled it well, took care of the ball and found the open person," Roehm said. 

The Hornets will face SEC Red rival Ann Arbor Pioneer in the district final Friday night at Huron. The matchup will be the third of the season between the team with them splitting the two regular season games.