By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN - The Buchanan Bucks varsity basketball team squeezed by visiting River Valley Thursday evening to grab a 44-40 Lakeland Conference win.
The Mustangs put up a good battle, not letting the Bucks go ahead by more than 10 points. River Valley also got Buchanan in foul trouble early in the first half, where the Bucks drew more 11 fouls by halftime.
Emily Ross led the Bucks in scoring with 17 points, while Hayley Cashier had 14 and Danielle Bachleda added nine.
Heather Totzke was the leading scorer for River Valley with 14 points and Jodi Grandholm added eight.
Buchanan's JV team fell to River Valley, 39-21.
Felicia Cox led the Bucks with nine points, while Heather Tyler had 22 points for the Mustangs.
Buchanan's next game will be Tuesday at Cassopolis. Tip off time is set to begin at 7 p.m.
Buchanan 14 29 40 44
River Valley 7 22 30 40
BUCHANAN
Hillary Faulkner 0 0-0 0, Emily Ross 8 2-1 17, Katie Backus 1 2-2 4, Leteshia Shannon 0 0-0 0, Jayme O'Bryant 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Borr 0 0-0 0, Anna Callahan 0 0-0 0, Ashley Pointer 0 0-0 0, Danielle Bachleda 4 1-1 9, Hayley Cashier 5 8-4 14, Katie Dreitzler 0 0-0 0
RIVER VALLEY
Maggie Hausmann 1 1 2-0 5, Katie Livengood 0 0-0 0, Morgan Olmstead 0 2-2 2, Heather Totzke 6 4-2 14, Emily Priest 0 4-1 1, Kali Lauzon 0 4-4 4, Abby Meyer 0 0-0 0, Jodi Grandholm 2 6-4 8, Tera Koebel 1 8-4 6