Getting 'on the same page' leads Maynard Jackson to come from behind win
In Saturday girls basketball action, the Maynard Jackson Jaguars were on the road to take on the Creekside Seminoles in a region showdown as the first place Jaguars at 13-0 in the standings, looked to extend their current win streak to 13 in a row. Meanwhile, for the Seminoles, who came into the match up holding the third spot in the standings, looked to put together back to back wins and stay in the hunt for a second place finish in region play.
The Jaguars would get off to a quick start and opened up on a 10-2 run sparked by a three point basket by Kennedi Cooper but the Seminoles would then go on a 17-5 run of their own to take a 19-15 lead with 2:21 to go in the opening period of play and would close out the quarter with a 25-17 lead.
As the second quarter got underway, the Jaguars would open on a 6-0 run to cut the Seminoles lead down to two points as they trailed 25-23 but back to back three point baskets by Creekside's Skye Cleveland, who finished the first half with 16 points, would extend the Seminole lead to eight as they would go up 31-23 and eventually close out the quarter leading the Jaguars 37-32.
In the third quarter, the Jaguars would scrap their way back into the lead as they would outscore Creekside 13-8 to take a 46-45 lead with 1:22 to go in the quarter but the Seminoles would close out the final seconds of the quarter on a quick 6-0 run and lead 52-46 to end the quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Jaguars would get a much needed spark from their defense that would help them open up the quarter on a 14-0 run to regain the lead as they would go up 66-55 with 1:23 to go in the game. The Jaguars' charge would be led by Taliah Cornish, who scored 11 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter as they would go on to pick up the 66-58 win.
Following the game, Maynard Jackson head coach, Michelle Powell, said that the conversation she and her staff had with her players at halftime, in which they reminded them, they have unfinished business. "We have something to complete. Our theme is unfinished business, we've got to take care of business," Powell said of their conversation at the break. "Nobody is going to give us this region, nobody's going to give us a state place. We have to go down there and prove that this is what we've worked for and this is what we've earned," Powell added.
Powell would later add ultimately, the Jaguars strong fourth quarter in which they held the Seminoles to just three points, came down to her players getting in sync with one another. "Once we got on the same page, we came back out...we went to work," Powell said. The Jaguars have two regular season games remaining including Tuesday against Tri Cities and Midtown on Friday.
