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Since being eliminated in district play by Woodhaven last year, Coach Larry Sakalas and his Anderson girls’ basketball team have been using their rival as a measuring stick and after being defeated by 19 points earlier this season, the Titans were more than ready when the Warriors came to call Friday night.
The Titans took a lead almost halfway through the first quarter and never looked back in their dominating 79-54 victory.
“We came to play tonight,” Sakalas said after the victory. “We believed in ourselves (and) we just worked hard.”
It looked like it was going to be a similar game to the last time the two teams met (65-46 Woodhaven victory) when the Warriors jumped out to a 5-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game.
But the Titan offense got to work and at the 4:32 mark took an 11-9 lead and never let it go.
Anderson put in shot after shot for the next three minutes and did not allow Woodhaven a point during that time.
Sakalas and his team had a plan for both their offense and defense coming into the game, and exceeded expectations.
“We wanted to hold them to under 55,” Sakalas said. “We wanted to score 60. I never thought in my wildest dreams we’d put up 79.”
Anderson saw contributions from six players to take a 25-16 lead after just eight minutes, and kept building from there.
Amani Corley and Tinara Moore led the Titans all night and dominated in first half play. Together, the two accounted for all the Anderson scoring in the second quarter.
Moore finished the first half with 14 points, eight of them in the first quarter, and Corley contributed 16 points in the half, 10 of them in the second quarter.
“Amani had an enormous game. Tinara had an enormous game,” Sakalas said. “We also had great minutes out of Bailey Fast from the bench (and) great minutes out of Kelli Burton from the bench.
“Kelli Burton came in and hit two big three-pointers (and) Bailey hit a big three-pointer. It was just a team effort. Everybody stepped up and helped out.”
The Warriors pulled within 10 points several times throughout the contest and had many more free-throw opportunities than the Titans, where they shot 65 percent, while the Titans shot 67 percent.
The Warriors went 21-for-32 from the foul line, while the Titans only had six chances, but went 4-for-6.
Woodhaven took some time outs in the third quarter and started to put themselves back in the game, but triples from Burton and Fast kept the Warriors at bay.
Woodhaven Coach Doug Simons made a few adjustments at halftime that he thought helped his team out some, but said they still could not get back in the game.
“We made a couple of adjustments at halftime that I thought helped us a bit,” he said. “But we still couldn’t get over that eight points. If we would have got it to six or so, maybe they would have got a little tired or something, I don’t know.
“It’s hard to tell because we never put them in that mode where they were backpedaling at all. They took it to us all night long (and) we tried to respond, but it didn’t happen. It’s just what it is.
The Titans led 41-27 at the half, but knew they could not take their opponents for granted. It was something Sakalas stressed in the locker room at the half.
“We said it’s 16 minutes. It means absolutely nothing. They were in the locker room (and) they were happy and they should have been happy,” Sakalas said. “But it meant nothing.
“Woodhaven’s a very good basketball team. They can be down 20 and be down four in a matter of two minutes. We just gotta keep working hard and keep battling them and that’s what we did.”
Despite falling behind early, the Warriors never gave up and fought hard to the end, but were unable to get the field goals in the second half.
Twelve of the team’s points in the second half came from free-throws, and only 15 from the field.
Cassie Breen led the Warriors in free-throws in the second half, going 6-for-7.
Brianna Brennan had a good night at the line, finishing 10-for-13.
Brennan led the Warriors with 18 points and also brought down nine rebounds.
Breen followed close behind with 13 points to go with her four rebounds.
Allison Manning recorded 10 points and Whitley Currie led the team with 12 rebounds, to go with her six points.
“We played well,” Simons said. “It was just one of those where they were ready. They were absolutely ready.”
Moore topped the scoresheet with her double-double of 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Corley followed with 22 points.
The win secured a share of the Downriver League title between the two teams, something the Titans were more than happy to end the game with.
“We were in our own gym and we play really well in our gym,” Sakalas said. “They play really well in their gym. It was a fun game and we enjoyed every minute of it.
“It was a great win for us and I’m very happy for my girls. They deserved it and they worked hard for it.”
Simons said he knows how much the win meant to the Titans and said his team now knows what it feels like to be on the losing side of a 79-54 game, a score similar to what the Warriors usually hand their opponents.
“We knew this was a big deal for them,” Simons said. “They absolutely wanted this league title tonight and they showed it. They absolutely came out.
“And we were truly prepared for this game. It wasn’t like we came here thinking it doesn’t matter. We were ready to play, they just outplayed us.”
Despite the loss, Simons had no hard feelings for the Titans.
“Tip your hats to them,” he said. “Obviously they’ve got some good players.”
In the end, Simons said both teams deserved their share of the league title.
“They deserve it as much as we do,” Simons said. “When you look at the end; the two best teams tied for first place. That’s the way it should be.”
Simons said how the teams have the same league records this season and have essentially defeated the same teams by almost the same amount of points.
“We’re different types of teams, but I think we’re equal,” he said.
In two weeks, district play will start and make for an interesting time for the two teams.
Anderson has a bye in the first round, and should the Warriors defeat Roosevelt in the first round, the two teams will meet again with the Warriors looking for revenge this time.
Sakalas said his team will still be using Woodhaven as a measuring stick but that they have broke even with them now.
Simons thinks it should be a good match up.
“We’ll play the same way and hopefully it’s a different story,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the Warriors hosted Carlson and defeated the Marauders 61-28.
The Marauders have been going through a rough losing streak but still managed to cut 22 points off the Warriors’ score from the last time the two teams met.
“I was really proud of the way we played against Woodhaven,” Carlson Coach Phil Carlson said. “The girls played tough and they showed a lot of heart.”
Carlson came out with good energy in the first half, but the Warriors responded with stronger defense in the second half and were able to increase their lead and clinch the game.
“We played better, but you can’t score 28 points and expect to beat a team like Woodhaven,” Carlson said.
Sarah Carlson continued her strong season with the Marauders and accounted for almost all of the offense, ending the night with 20 points.
The Warriors were led by Breen with her 17 points and six assists.
Manning played her best game of the season and finished the night with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
Saline Shubik scored 11 and had three steals, Brennan recorded nine points and nine rebounds, and Stephanie Suter hit for six and had four boards.
The Warriors host University Liggett on Friday for their final game of the season.
Days before securing their share of the DRL title, the Titans took on Trenton and Taylor Truman and defeated the Trojans 52-37 and the Cougars 58-40.
The Titans played a strong defensive game and held Trenton to just eight points in the middle quarters.
The Trojans outscored Anderson 21-15 in the final quarter; their best of the game, but still fell short.
The Trojans went 7-for-12 from the free throw line, but hard a hard time getting open looks.
“I wanted to handle their pressure,” Trenton Coach Rob Sauter said. “I felt we handled their pressure decent in the full court. They played really, really good defense on us and it made it very difficult for us to get quality looks.”
Paige Machnacki led the Trojans with 11 points and six boards.
Aevah Hebda added nine points, and Stephanie Galczyk finished with seven points.
Sauter was pleased with the work off the bench from sophomore Shelby Kohler (two points, seven rebounds) and freshman Kaylie Crowell (five points, four steals).
The Titans were led by Moore with 16 points and eight rebounds. Corley followed close behind with 15 points to go with her three rebounds.
The night before, the Titans took on the Truman Cougars in a reschedule game from a snow day in their league crossover game.
“I was pleased with our performance in the first quarter of this game,” Truman Coach Chad Putnam said. “We were able to execute our defensive game plan well and play a decent eight minutes of basketball with one of the better teams in the Downriver area.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to sustain that quality of basketball throughout the game and Southgate was effectively able to take advantage of some of our weaknesses.”
The Titans continued their strong play and extended their lead to 27-19 at the half and 44-34 after three played.
The teams stayed close in the opening quarter, and Anderson led 13-10 after the first eight minutes, before building their lead from there.
In the third quarter, Truman’s top three scorers kept the Cougars in the game, accounting for 12 of the team’s 15 points in the quarter.
April Micheaux (five points), Chelsea Bedwell (four points) and Judah Frazier (three points) all contributed to the Truman offense.
In the final quarter, the Titans stopped the Truman offense and only allowed the Cougars two field goals, while getting seven themselves for the final score.
Putnam thought the game came down to Anderson’s size and lack of rebounding by his team.
“Generally, we are usually a pretty good rebounding team, but in this game we were only able to come up with twenty total rebounds,” he said. “Southgate’s size caused us some problems rebounding the ball and Southgate did a good job of converting points off of turnovers and scoring transition baskets.
“This game reminded us that we still have some areas to improve upon as we finish up the regular season and begin preparing for the district tournament.”
Mixheaux led the Trojans with 10 points and seven rebounds. Bedwell followed close behind with nine points and six rebounds.
Frazier (eight points, four assists), Victoria Fisher (four points), Caprice King (four points), Mariah Hopkins (two points) and Diamond Thomas (two points) all contributed to the Cougar offense.
The Titans were led by Moore with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Corley recorded 14 points, Laekyn Jaciuk had 11 points and two steals, and Sarah Kircos had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Anderson traveled to Garden City last night and will stay on the road against Edsel Ford tomorrow.
The following night, the Cougars went on to defeat in-city rival Taylor Kennedy 50-29.
Truman jumped out to an early lead and led 14-2 after the first quarter and built from there.
Micheaux got into foul trouble in the second quarter but King stepped in, scoring six points in the quarter.
“I was really pleased with the way that Caprice King played in the second quarter,” Putnam said. “She did a good job of scoring around the basket and, as of late, she has been contributing quality minutes for our team.”
In the third quarter, Truman’s only scoring came from Micheaux who got eight points. Micheaux’s first basket of the quarter put her over the 500 point total for her varsity career.
She also notched her 400th rebound of her varsity career during the game.
“April really asserted herself and carried us in that quarter,” Putnam said. “Our offensive effectiveness had slowed down a bit in the overall game but April played a quality third quarter which enabled us to take a comfortable lead into the final quarter.”
Micheaux led the Cougars with 18 points and six rebounds and Fisher recorded eight points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
King (six points), Lee (four points), Frazier (four points), Ciara Bush (four points), Sydne Higginbotham (two points), Mariah Hopkins (two points) and Liaja Hodge (two points) all contributed to the Truman offense.
Bedwell brought in 10 rebounds.
In their final game of the week, the Cougars fell 51-41 to Roosevelt on Friday night.
Truman stayed close in the first and last quarters scoring 13 points to the Bears’ 14 in both, but the Bears outscored them 23-15 in the middle quarters for the win.
Roosevelt was led by Hailee Trombley with 22 points, including three triples. Trombley also went nine-for-10 from the foul line.
Amelia Czarnota finished with 10 points.
Truman travels to Crestwood tonight and stays on the road against Dearborn on Thursday.
The Bears hosted Edsel Ford on Monday for their last game of the regular season.
Also on Friday night, the Trojans traveled to Allen Park for a third place battle with the Jaguars and defeated their opponent 38-24.
It was a rough scoring night for both teams and Trenton only led 5-2 after the opening quarter.
The game continued and saw scores of 11-10 at the half and 17-14 after three quarters.
“I thought that we really did a good job defensively,” Sauter said. “(But) I thought they did also.
“We made a couple early in the fourth quarter and they had to extend their defense and we were able to capitalize on it.”
The Trojans scored 21 points in the final quarter and were helped out by Galczyk who went 8-for-8 from the foul line, and Machnacki who went 3-for-4 to secure the win.
Galczyk played one of her best games that night according to Sauter and finished with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Machnacki followed with 12 points, all in the second half, and seven rebounds.
Megan Benoist led the team with 11 boards to go with her five points and three steals.
Hebda finished with 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
Allen Park Coach Chuck Perez said it was a bad shooting night for his Jaguars.
The Jags went 9-for-52 on the night with 17 misses in the paint, and only went one-for-four from the foul line, while the Trojans went 13-for-22.
Amy Trionfi led the team with 10 points.
“For us, it was a huge game,” Sauter said. “Realistically, third place was the best any of the rest of us teams could get. Last year we finished fifth, and this year we finished third.
“We played great defense on Friday. Rebounding has really been one of our biggest strengths all season. (We know) to achieve a victory is to win our rebounding war. They’ve been very good at it this year. Our girls just played so hard. They really refused to lose.”
This week the Trojans take on Grosse Ile and Riverview Gabriel Richard as they prepare for district play.
“Everything for us is how well we can do defensively,” Sauter said. “We really have to rely on defense.
“This is the week we are preparing for districts, so we just need to continue getting better each game. We don’t back down to people so I’m really excited about what we can do.”
Earlier in the week, the Jags had a nice 62-28 win in a crossover game against Lincoln Park.
The Jags took a 16-3 led after the first quarter, and did not allow their opponents more than nine points in any of the remaining quarters.
In both the first and third quarters, Allen Park saw scoring from seven different players and 12 of 14 girls scored at some point during the game.
Hailey Lazarek led the team with 16 points.
Erin Fish had a good night with 13 points, and Casey Bowdell finished with six points, three steals and three assists.
Erica Cavazoa, Rachel Caswell, Olivia Keeley and Keri Lessnau had four points each, Aly Kubik had three points, and Trionfi, Sara Polatka, Audrey Newstead and Emilee Semeniuk each had two points.
Hannah Holder finished the night with four rebounds.
The Jags hosted Carlson last night and will face Annapolis on Friday.
The Rails also fell 27-25 to Melvindale on Feb. 11.
The Cardinals led 11-8 at the half and Coach Tom Schick said the low scoring game was a combination of good defense and poor shooting on both sides.
“Both teams worked hard to keep the other team from getting to the basket,” Schick said. “I was impressed by how my girls matured this season, playing in tight games and that effort paid off tonight.
“I was just as impressed with Lincoln Park’s effort. They played us hard the whole game and that’s a testament to their players during a tough season.”
The Rails were led by Shanire Taylor with 11 points and Melvindale’s Auriel Harris topped the score book with her 14 points.
The Cards could not keep up the momentum from the win, and fell 45-33 the following night to Roosevelt.
Melvindale had a good first three quarters and led 15-14 at the half, but had a poor fourth quarter that the Bears took advantage of.
“Their pressure in the second half hurt us and they cashed in on our mistakes,” Schick said. “They did a good job of getting the ball out of Auriel’s hands and our other guards were not up for the challenge tonight.”
The Bears were led again by Trombley with 16 points and Rachel Carley added 10 points.
Trombley had another strong night at the foul line, finishing six-for-seven.
Melvindale was paced by Harris with 14 points, followed by Paige Filipowski with seven points.
The Bears hosted Edsel Ford on Monday for their last game of the season.
Friday night was senior night for the Cards and seniors Britney Koelher, Aerial Clifton, Katlyn White, Filipowski and Harris were not disappointed, when their team defeated Carlson 48-31.
It was a close game throughout the first half, highlighted by Sarah Carlson hitting a half court shot to end the half with Melvindale hanging on to a 14-13 lead.
But the second half was all Melvindale who switched to a zone and the Carlson shooting went cold.
Harris stole the show and led all scorers with 32 points, including going 16-for-20 from the free throw line, 11-for-14 in fourth quarter alone.
Harris was recognized during the game as Melvindale’s all-time leading scorer and with two games to go, she sits at 1,154 career points.
“It was a special night for us,” Schick said. “We had a great crowd tonight and the players fed off their energy.”
The Marauders had a tough scoring game as their losing streak was extended to five games in the loss.
The team went two-for-23 from the three point line, nine-for-27 from the field and five-for-17 from the foul line.
“That’s been the story of the year,” Carlson said.
The Marauders also had 23 turnovers to the Cardinals.
They were led by Sarah Carlson with nine points. Brittany Gniewek added eight points.
The Marauders also had three starters foul out in the fourth quarter.
“They blew us out in the fourth quarter,” Carlson said. “We didn’t really plan a game plan per say against one person. We assumed that our press would take Harris out of the game (but) we just didn’t even press well and when we did get it, we’d just turn it right back over.”
The Marauders traveled to Allen Park last night and face Airport on Thursday.
Melvindale played at Redford Union last night and will finish up Friday against Romulus.
GIRLS' BASKETBALL: Downriver League Roundup (PHOTOS)
The Titans took a lead almost halfway through the first quarter and never looked back in their dominating 79-54 victory.
“We came to play tonight,” Sakalas said after the victory. “We believed in ourselves (and) we just worked hard.”
It looked like it was going to be a similar game to the last time the two teams met (65-46 Woodhaven victory) when the Warriors jumped out to a 5-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game.
But the Titan offense got to work and at the 4:32 mark took an 11-9 lead and never let it go.
Anderson put in shot after shot for the next three minutes and did not allow Woodhaven a point during that time.
Sakalas and his team had a plan for both their offense and defense coming into the game, and exceeded expectations.
“We wanted to hold them to under 55,” Sakalas said. “We wanted to score 60. I never thought in my wildest dreams we’d put up 79.”
Anderson saw contributions from six players to take a 25-16 lead after just eight minutes, and kept building from there.
Amani Corley and Tinara Moore led the Titans all night and dominated in first half play. Together, the two accounted for all the Anderson scoring in the second quarter.
Moore finished the first half with 14 points, eight of them in the first quarter, and Corley contributed 16 points in the half, 10 of them in the second quarter.
“Amani had an enormous game. Tinara had an enormous game,” Sakalas said. “We also had great minutes out of Bailey Fast from the bench (and) great minutes out of Kelli Burton from the bench.
“Kelli Burton came in and hit two big three-pointers (and) Bailey hit a big three-pointer. It was just a team effort. Everybody stepped up and helped out.”
The Warriors pulled within 10 points several times throughout the contest and had many more free-throw opportunities than the Titans, where they shot 65 percent, while the Titans shot 67 percent.
The Warriors went 21-for-32 from the foul line, while the Titans only had six chances, but went 4-for-6.
Woodhaven took some time outs in the third quarter and started to put themselves back in the game, but triples from Burton and Fast kept the Warriors at bay.
Woodhaven Coach Doug Simons made a few adjustments at halftime that he thought helped his team out some, but said they still could not get back in the game.
“We made a couple of adjustments at halftime that I thought helped us a bit,” he said. “But we still couldn’t get over that eight points. If we would have got it to six or so, maybe they would have got a little tired or something, I don’t know.
“It’s hard to tell because we never put them in that mode where they were backpedaling at all. They took it to us all night long (and) we tried to respond, but it didn’t happen. It’s just what it is.
The Titans led 41-27 at the half, but knew they could not take their opponents for granted. It was something Sakalas stressed in the locker room at the half.
“We said it’s 16 minutes. It means absolutely nothing. They were in the locker room (and) they were happy and they should have been happy,” Sakalas said. “But it meant nothing.
“Woodhaven’s a very good basketball team. They can be down 20 and be down four in a matter of two minutes. We just gotta keep working hard and keep battling them and that’s what we did.”
Despite falling behind early, the Warriors never gave up and fought hard to the end, but were unable to get the field goals in the second half.
Twelve of the team’s points in the second half came from free-throws, and only 15 from the field.
Cassie Breen led the Warriors in free-throws in the second half, going 6-for-7.
Brianna Brennan had a good night at the line, finishing 10-for-13.
Brennan led the Warriors with 18 points and also brought down nine rebounds.
Breen followed close behind with 13 points to go with her four rebounds.
Allison Manning recorded 10 points and Whitley Currie led the team with 12 rebounds, to go with her six points.
“We played well,” Simons said. “It was just one of those where they were ready. They were absolutely ready.”
Moore topped the scoresheet with her double-double of 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Corley followed with 22 points.
The win secured a share of the Downriver League title between the two teams, something the Titans were more than happy to end the game with.
“We were in our own gym and we play really well in our gym,” Sakalas said. “They play really well in their gym. It was a fun game and we enjoyed every minute of it.
“It was a great win for us and I’m very happy for my girls. They deserved it and they worked hard for it.”
Simons said he knows how much the win meant to the Titans and said his team now knows what it feels like to be on the losing side of a 79-54 game, a score similar to what the Warriors usually hand their opponents.
“We knew this was a big deal for them,” Simons said. “They absolutely wanted this league title tonight and they showed it. They absolutely came out.
“And we were truly prepared for this game. It wasn’t like we came here thinking it doesn’t matter. We were ready to play, they just outplayed us.”
Despite the loss, Simons had no hard feelings for the Titans.
“Tip your hats to them,” he said. “Obviously they’ve got some good players.”
In the end, Simons said both teams deserved their share of the league title.
“They deserve it as much as we do,” Simons said. “When you look at the end; the two best teams tied for first place. That’s the way it should be.”
Simons said how the teams have the same league records this season and have essentially defeated the same teams by almost the same amount of points.
“We’re different types of teams, but I think we’re equal,” he said.
In two weeks, district play will start and make for an interesting time for the two teams.
Anderson has a bye in the first round, and should the Warriors defeat Roosevelt in the first round, the two teams will meet again with the Warriors looking for revenge this time.
Sakalas said his team will still be using Woodhaven as a measuring stick but that they have broke even with them now.
Simons thinks it should be a good match up.
“We’ll play the same way and hopefully it’s a different story,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the Warriors hosted Carlson and defeated the Marauders 61-28.
The Marauders have been going through a rough losing streak but still managed to cut 22 points off the Warriors’ score from the last time the two teams met.
“I was really proud of the way we played against Woodhaven,” Carlson Coach Phil Carlson said. “The girls played tough and they showed a lot of heart.”
Carlson came out with good energy in the first half, but the Warriors responded with stronger defense in the second half and were able to increase their lead and clinch the game.
“We played better, but you can’t score 28 points and expect to beat a team like Woodhaven,” Carlson said.
Sarah Carlson continued her strong season with the Marauders and accounted for almost all of the offense, ending the night with 20 points.
The Warriors were led by Breen with her 17 points and six assists.
Manning played her best game of the season and finished the night with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
Saline Shubik scored 11 and had three steals, Brennan recorded nine points and nine rebounds, and Stephanie Suter hit for six and had four boards.
The Warriors host University Liggett on Friday for their final game of the season.
Days before securing their share of the DRL title, the Titans took on Trenton and Taylor Truman and defeated the Trojans 52-37 and the Cougars 58-40.
The Titans played a strong defensive game and held Trenton to just eight points in the middle quarters.
The Trojans outscored Anderson 21-15 in the final quarter; their best of the game, but still fell short.
The Trojans went 7-for-12 from the free throw line, but hard a hard time getting open looks.
“I wanted to handle their pressure,” Trenton Coach Rob Sauter said. “I felt we handled their pressure decent in the full court. They played really, really good defense on us and it made it very difficult for us to get quality looks.”
Paige Machnacki led the Trojans with 11 points and six boards.
Aevah Hebda added nine points, and Stephanie Galczyk finished with seven points.
Sauter was pleased with the work off the bench from sophomore Shelby Kohler (two points, seven rebounds) and freshman Kaylie Crowell (five points, four steals).
The Titans were led by Moore with 16 points and eight rebounds. Corley followed close behind with 15 points to go with her three rebounds.
The night before, the Titans took on the Truman Cougars in a reschedule game from a snow day in their league crossover game.
“I was pleased with our performance in the first quarter of this game,” Truman Coach Chad Putnam said. “We were able to execute our defensive game plan well and play a decent eight minutes of basketball with one of the better teams in the Downriver area.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to sustain that quality of basketball throughout the game and Southgate was effectively able to take advantage of some of our weaknesses.”
The Titans continued their strong play and extended their lead to 27-19 at the half and 44-34 after three played.
The teams stayed close in the opening quarter, and Anderson led 13-10 after the first eight minutes, before building their lead from there.
In the third quarter, Truman’s top three scorers kept the Cougars in the game, accounting for 12 of the team’s 15 points in the quarter.
April Micheaux (five points), Chelsea Bedwell (four points) and Judah Frazier (three points) all contributed to the Truman offense.
In the final quarter, the Titans stopped the Truman offense and only allowed the Cougars two field goals, while getting seven themselves for the final score.
Putnam thought the game came down to Anderson’s size and lack of rebounding by his team.
“Generally, we are usually a pretty good rebounding team, but in this game we were only able to come up with twenty total rebounds,” he said. “Southgate’s size caused us some problems rebounding the ball and Southgate did a good job of converting points off of turnovers and scoring transition baskets.
“This game reminded us that we still have some areas to improve upon as we finish up the regular season and begin preparing for the district tournament.”
Mixheaux led the Trojans with 10 points and seven rebounds. Bedwell followed close behind with nine points and six rebounds.
Frazier (eight points, four assists), Victoria Fisher (four points), Caprice King (four points), Mariah Hopkins (two points) and Diamond Thomas (two points) all contributed to the Cougar offense.
The Titans were led by Moore with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Corley recorded 14 points, Laekyn Jaciuk had 11 points and two steals, and Sarah Kircos had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Anderson traveled to Garden City last night and will stay on the road against Edsel Ford tomorrow.
The following night, the Cougars went on to defeat in-city rival Taylor Kennedy 50-29.
Truman jumped out to an early lead and led 14-2 after the first quarter and built from there.
Micheaux got into foul trouble in the second quarter but King stepped in, scoring six points in the quarter.
“I was really pleased with the way that Caprice King played in the second quarter,” Putnam said. “She did a good job of scoring around the basket and, as of late, she has been contributing quality minutes for our team.”
In the third quarter, Truman’s only scoring came from Micheaux who got eight points. Micheaux’s first basket of the quarter put her over the 500 point total for her varsity career.
She also notched her 400th rebound of her varsity career during the game.
“April really asserted herself and carried us in that quarter,” Putnam said. “Our offensive effectiveness had slowed down a bit in the overall game but April played a quality third quarter which enabled us to take a comfortable lead into the final quarter.”
Micheaux led the Cougars with 18 points and six rebounds and Fisher recorded eight points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
King (six points), Lee (four points), Frazier (four points), Ciara Bush (four points), Sydne Higginbotham (two points), Mariah Hopkins (two points) and Liaja Hodge (two points) all contributed to the Truman offense.
Bedwell brought in 10 rebounds.
In their final game of the week, the Cougars fell 51-41 to Roosevelt on Friday night.
Truman stayed close in the first and last quarters scoring 13 points to the Bears’ 14 in both, but the Bears outscored them 23-15 in the middle quarters for the win.
Roosevelt was led by Hailee Trombley with 22 points, including three triples. Trombley also went nine-for-10 from the foul line.
Amelia Czarnota finished with 10 points.
Truman travels to Crestwood tonight and stays on the road against Dearborn on Thursday.
The Bears hosted Edsel Ford on Monday for their last game of the regular season.
Also on Friday night, the Trojans traveled to Allen Park for a third place battle with the Jaguars and defeated their opponent 38-24.
It was a rough scoring night for both teams and Trenton only led 5-2 after the opening quarter.
The game continued and saw scores of 11-10 at the half and 17-14 after three quarters.
“I thought that we really did a good job defensively,” Sauter said. “(But) I thought they did also.
“We made a couple early in the fourth quarter and they had to extend their defense and we were able to capitalize on it.”
The Trojans scored 21 points in the final quarter and were helped out by Galczyk who went 8-for-8 from the foul line, and Machnacki who went 3-for-4 to secure the win.
Galczyk played one of her best games that night according to Sauter and finished with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Machnacki followed with 12 points, all in the second half, and seven rebounds.
Megan Benoist led the team with 11 boards to go with her five points and three steals.
Hebda finished with 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
Allen Park Coach Chuck Perez said it was a bad shooting night for his Jaguars.
The Jags went 9-for-52 on the night with 17 misses in the paint, and only went one-for-four from the foul line, while the Trojans went 13-for-22.
Amy Trionfi led the team with 10 points.
“For us, it was a huge game,” Sauter said. “Realistically, third place was the best any of the rest of us teams could get. Last year we finished fifth, and this year we finished third.
“We played great defense on Friday. Rebounding has really been one of our biggest strengths all season. (We know) to achieve a victory is to win our rebounding war. They’ve been very good at it this year. Our girls just played so hard. They really refused to lose.”
This week the Trojans take on Grosse Ile and Riverview Gabriel Richard as they prepare for district play.
“Everything for us is how well we can do defensively,” Sauter said. “We really have to rely on defense.
“This is the week we are preparing for districts, so we just need to continue getting better each game. We don’t back down to people so I’m really excited about what we can do.”
Earlier in the week, the Jags had a nice 62-28 win in a crossover game against Lincoln Park.
The Jags took a 16-3 led after the first quarter, and did not allow their opponents more than nine points in any of the remaining quarters.
In both the first and third quarters, Allen Park saw scoring from seven different players and 12 of 14 girls scored at some point during the game.
Hailey Lazarek led the team with 16 points.
Erin Fish had a good night with 13 points, and Casey Bowdell finished with six points, three steals and three assists.
Erica Cavazoa, Rachel Caswell, Olivia Keeley and Keri Lessnau had four points each, Aly Kubik had three points, and Trionfi, Sara Polatka, Audrey Newstead and Emilee Semeniuk each had two points.
Hannah Holder finished the night with four rebounds.
The Jags hosted Carlson last night and will face Annapolis on Friday.
The Rails also fell 27-25 to Melvindale on Feb. 11.
The Cardinals led 11-8 at the half and Coach Tom Schick said the low scoring game was a combination of good defense and poor shooting on both sides.
“Both teams worked hard to keep the other team from getting to the basket,” Schick said. “I was impressed by how my girls matured this season, playing in tight games and that effort paid off tonight.
“I was just as impressed with Lincoln Park’s effort. They played us hard the whole game and that’s a testament to their players during a tough season.”
The Rails were led by Shanire Taylor with 11 points and Melvindale’s Auriel Harris topped the score book with her 14 points.
The Cards could not keep up the momentum from the win, and fell 45-33 the following night to Roosevelt.
Melvindale had a good first three quarters and led 15-14 at the half, but had a poor fourth quarter that the Bears took advantage of.
“Their pressure in the second half hurt us and they cashed in on our mistakes,” Schick said. “They did a good job of getting the ball out of Auriel’s hands and our other guards were not up for the challenge tonight.”
The Bears were led again by Trombley with 16 points and Rachel Carley added 10 points.
Trombley had another strong night at the foul line, finishing six-for-seven.
Melvindale was paced by Harris with 14 points, followed by Paige Filipowski with seven points.
The Bears hosted Edsel Ford on Monday for their last game of the season.
Friday night was senior night for the Cards and seniors Britney Koelher, Aerial Clifton, Katlyn White, Filipowski and Harris were not disappointed, when their team defeated Carlson 48-31.
It was a close game throughout the first half, highlighted by Sarah Carlson hitting a half court shot to end the half with Melvindale hanging on to a 14-13 lead.
But the second half was all Melvindale who switched to a zone and the Carlson shooting went cold.
Harris stole the show and led all scorers with 32 points, including going 16-for-20 from the free throw line, 11-for-14 in fourth quarter alone.
Harris was recognized during the game as Melvindale’s all-time leading scorer and with two games to go, she sits at 1,154 career points.
“It was a special night for us,” Schick said. “We had a great crowd tonight and the players fed off their energy.”
The Marauders had a tough scoring game as their losing streak was extended to five games in the loss.
The team went two-for-23 from the three point line, nine-for-27 from the field and five-for-17 from the foul line.
“That’s been the story of the year,” Carlson said.
The Marauders also had 23 turnovers to the Cardinals.
They were led by Sarah Carlson with nine points. Brittany Gniewek added eight points.
The Marauders also had three starters foul out in the fourth quarter.
“They blew us out in the fourth quarter,” Carlson said. “We didn’t really plan a game plan per say against one person. We assumed that our press would take Harris out of the game (but) we just didn’t even press well and when we did get it, we’d just turn it right back over.”
The Marauders traveled to Allen Park last night and face Airport on Thursday.
Melvindale played at Redford Union last night and will finish up Friday against Romulus.
Last Updated: 2/19/2013 12:54:46 PM EST