Kiah Douglas prepares to bring the ball up court**
**Corie Buchanan prepares to attack the paint**
**Diamond Tolliver pushes the ball in the first quarter**
**Juanita Cochran blocks a shot**Saginaw- Rivalry week continued in Saginaw this week as Saginaw High's and Arthur Hill's girls team took center stage Thursday night at Arthur Hill, and while the girl's game might not have the same pizzazz as the boys, you couldn't tell that to the ladies who took the court or the packed crowd who filled the gym.
Things didn't get off as planned for the Lady Jacks when point guard Corie Buchanan picked up her second foul just a minute and a half into the contest. With Buchanan on the bench, Saginaw's point guard Diamond Tolliver took advantage and her "and 1" play gave the Trojans an 8-3 lead.
Arthur Hill's Juanita Cochran and Kiah Douglas stepped up and carried the load with Cochran doing her thing in the paint and Douglas sliding over to the point. An assist from Douglas to Nana Hall tied the game at 11-11 and a second assist from Douglas to My'esia Moore gave the Hill their first lead at 13-11 as the first quarter horn sounded.
Midway through the second quarter Buchanan checked back into the game and went right to work, a pull-up jumper followed by two assist from Buchanan and Arthur Hill had theirselves a 25-15 lead with 3:30 on the clock. With just seconds until halftime, Tolliver lost her edge and was called for a technical foul giving Douglas a pair of free throws as Arthur Hill led 31-20 at halftime.
A three point play from Cochran gave the Hill a 39-25 lead with 3:48 to play in the third but then Saginaw fought back with a 8-2 run to cut the lead to 41-33. Two steals from Buchanan turned into open court lay-ups for herself and Douglas to give the Lady Jacks a 49-34 lead heading into the final quarter but Saginaw was never able to threaten again as Arthur Hill took a 67-58 victory.
BREAKDOWN: neither team played their best basketball but Saginaw was able to get up 10 points in the second quarter and that proved to be the difference. Arthur Hill really looked lost early on when Buchanan got into foul trouble. Saginaw got plenty of open looks and even took better shots near the basket but their undersized forwards just couldn't get shots to fall, but credit Cochran for that, as she controlled the paint.
PLAYER OF GAME: Juanita Cochran, Hill- the 6-2 center picked up a pair of fouls early but she did a great job the rest of the way by staying on the ground, keeping her hands high in the air, and forcing Saginaw to shoot over her. The results were a poor shooting percentage by Saginaw and a 18 point, 11 rebound, and 3 block night for Juanita.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Corie Buchanan, Hill- never really got her shot going but she made up for it by attacking the paint and tossing some pretty fancy passes to her teammates for easy shots. Finished with 11 points, 5 steals, and 7 assist.
Kiah Douglas, Hill- did a nice job at the point while Corie was in foul trouble. She was able to push the ball and get into the lanes, added 13 points in the winning cause.
Diamond Tolliver, High- finished with 14 points and her play and ability to push the ball was the reason Saginaw took an early lead but then she faded away in the second half.
Amber Jackson, High- the five foot senior is small but she is tough as heck and gets very physical defensively. She wasn't around early in the season but she makes Saginaw a better team.
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