The North Greene girls basketball team made it to the Class 1A State Tournament for the sixth year in a row last season, and with much of that roster returning for the 2026-27 campaign the Lady Huskies look poised for another deep run, but that is not the focus for coach James Buchanan.
The Lady Huskies are not looking ahead to Murfreesboro, but instead are focused on getting better every night and making the most of every opportunity they have to take the court. That starts on November 17 with a trip to Hancock County to tip off the season.
“Every year I say the same thing, and I know I sound like a broken record, but we just want to be playing our best when the postseason rolls around,” Buchanan said. “Our goal is to win the next game. We want to work hard to improve our weaknesses and maybe turn them into strengths. We don’t want to be so forward thinking that we are not getting better every day. I know what people have come to expect, but we are not going to be consumed by that.”
The Lady Huskies return five of their seven regular rotation players from a year ago when they went 28-8. North Greene finished runner-up to Unaka in both the District 1-A and Region 1-A Tournaments. They will be looking to move up one spot on that region ladder this season, but Buchanan knows getting past Unaka, Cloudland and Cosby will be tough.
“There are not going to be many easy nights. We have great coaches in our conference and in our county, and they are going to have their teams ready. We may take some hits against some good teams. It’s hard to know who the best teams are right now, but we’ll see plenty of good ones. I think we can be competitive with anyone in the region. We’ll be in some very difficult tournaments, and hopefully those prepare us for the postseason.”
The leader of that group is junior post Tralyn Southerland who garnered all state honors a year ago and proved to be a dominant force as both a scorer and a rebounder.
“Just having a player of her level back is huge. She forces teams to make decisions. They have to send extra bodies or she is going to score. When those double teams come we have a lot of kids now who can make plays,” Buchanan said. “It starts with Tralyn, but we have some really good pieces around her.”
Joining Southerland in the post will is junior Josie Graham. She brings size and athleticism to the lineup and will be one of the best defenders in the region. Graham can become even more valuable to the Lady Huskies with and uptick in offense that could relieve the double and triple teams Southerland will likely see on a nightly basis.
“We have some athletes on this team. Josie runs well, jumps well, plays hard and is tough. A lot of Tralyn’s buckets have come off high-low passes from Josie, because not only is she unselfish but she is a skilled passer,” Buchanan said. “I think everybody in this building is telling her to shoot it more. It’s not fake, she does not care about the credit, she just wants to win. But, we have talked about it already, if she would be more demanding of the ball she could be a weapon and then we could be really difficult to stop.”
At the point guard spot junior Eva Leonard returns to the starting lineup and her experience running the offense is something Buchanan sees as invaluable. She will also be one of the Lady Huskies’ top outside shooters.
“Eva had a great year last as a first-time starter. She ran the offense great and gave us a very capable scorer,” Buchanan said. “There is a lot I would normally have to worry about, that I don’t because I know she is going to get the ball to right place. Then she’s lethal from the three-point line. She has proven to be a weapon, and that is a luxury.”
Junior guard Cadie McDevitt is back as well, adding length to the perimeter, quality shooting and another ball handler.
Sliding into the starting lineup is sophomore guard Addi Dean. She spent much of the summer running point for the Lady Huskies when Leonard was sidelined with an injury, and Buchanan hopes those extra reps will accelerate her growth as she prepares for the bigger role.
“Addi has stepped into that fifth starter role. When Eva went down she got the opportunity to take on some bigger responsibilities which was good for us. Now we have three girls with Addi, Eva and Cadie who have had to break a press or get us in an offense. That may let us play a little bit faster this year,” Buchanan said. “I hate that Eva broke her ankle, but in the long run we may benefit from it.”
Veronica Abrosikov is the only senior on the Lady Huskies roster and gives them another shooter on the perimeter.
Junior Heidi Trentham and sophomore Satine Johnson return and give the Lady Huskies post options off the bench.
Then the Lady Huskies bring in a six-person freshman class that will try to earn varsity minutes. That group includes Evelina Abrosikov, Mackenzie Burns, Allyson Langolis, Mackenzie Moorman, Allie Cantwell and Parks Gibson.
