FW Canterbury Wins Class 1A

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - Tired or not, Fort Wayne Canterbury's Cavaliers picked up the pace after a close call and went on to beat Vincennes Rivet 42-35, claiming their fifth girls state championship in six seasons.

A late rally by the Patriots whittled Canterbury's 16-point lead to just one point, 36-35, with just minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday's Indiana Class A girls basketball state final, but the defending Cavaliers finished the game on a 6-0 run.

"That's when I said that we've worked too hard to let being tired take over," said Canterbury head coach Wayne Krieger. "It was a situation where we got tired, but we have enough pride in these kids and they were able to pick it up."

Cavaliers forward Kindell Fincher had17 points and 19 rebounds . Guard Darby Maggard had 11 points for the champions.

The win gave the Cavaliers' their second straight state title. Canterbury (25-3) secured the title for three consecutive years between 2008 and 2010. The Cavaliers are 3-0 against Vincennes Rivet.

Patriots guard Kelsey Ivers had 17 points and 6 rebounds, and forward Lauren Herman had nine points and seven rebounds.

Aaliyah Gaines hit a lay-up on a fast break with an assist by Fincher to put Canterbury on the scoreboard first while the Patriots were plagued by poor shooting. A free throw by Fincher brought the game to a 9-9 tie before the Cavaliers went on an 11-3 run.

Canterbury ended the second quarter on another run, 6-2, to take a 30-16 lead into the half.

"We just couldn't get a shot to go down in the first half and I think that made the difference," said Vincennes head coach Tim Young.

The third quarter debuted with a basket from Maggard to extend the Cavaliers' lead to the largest of the game, 32-16.

But Patriot guard Katie Donovan ignited a 19-4 run that overlapped the third and fourth quarters and brought Vincennes within a single point with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Young said he believes the girls realized in the second half that they were capable of playing against Canterbury.

"The third quarter has not been one of our strong quarters and I think it was magnified today," Canterbury's Krieger said. "At the same time, Rivet did a nice job of continuing to attack offensively."