For the second night in a row the West Greene girls put everything together in the fourth quarter as they came from behind to claim a 49-42 win over Chuckey-Doak on Tuesday night.
“We played better than we have been playing, but we are still looking for consistency,” West Greene coach Betsy Shaw said. “It felt great to get this one. I’m proud of them for fighting. We let them come to West Greene and beat us, so it meant a lot to get this one at their place.”
The Lady Buffaloes fell from behind 34-27 in the third quarter, but at that point they locked down on defense and did not allow Chuckey-Doak to score for over nine minutes.
“We knew we had to keep the game within reach. I feel like we can normally count on our defense, and we had to step up right there. The girls played hard tonight, and I’m glad we were able to get the win,” Shaw said.
On the offensive end Neveah Fillers got West Greene’s comeback started with 1:10 left in the third quarter when she drained a long two-pointer. Fillers followed with a pair of charity tosses, and Chuckey-Doak clung to a 34-31 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
Payton Norton found the hot hand to begin the final frame and sank a trey from the right wing to even the score at 34-34. She then gave West Greene its first lead since the 3:33 mark of the first quarter when she put in a jumper from the short corner. Morgan Brown followed with five points and West Greene’s lead reached 41-34.
Brown led all scorers on Tuesday with 23 points, and kept the Lady Buffs within striking distance with a determined effort on the offensive end of the floor.
“Morgan played a great game, and everybody around her helped her out. She took over. She knew we needed her to score, and she went out there and did it,” Shaw said.
Kennedy Brown tried to get Chuckey-Doak back in the contest when she dropped in a jumper from the lane through contact, and after her free throw the lead was down to 41-37.
Norton answered with a short jumper, and two free throws from Brown gave the Lady Buffaloes their biggest lead 45-37. From there West Greene held on for the 49-42 win.
The night started with West Greene jumping out to a 7-2 lead after Brown sank a triple from the right wing.
Chuckey-Doak followed with an 8-0 run that swung the advantage to 10-7. Tralyn Southerland made one at the Charity stripe to put the Lady Knights in front and Layla Fox turned a steal by Tavyn Southerland into a layup that capped the run.
Morgan Brown tied the game at 10-10 with a triple, but then Kennedy Brown hit from deep for Chuckey-Doak. Traylyn Southerland beat the buzzer with a bomb from the left wing to put Chuckey-Doak in front 16-12 after eight minutes of action.
In the second quarter Chuckey-Doak’s lead reached 23-17 when Kennedy Brown connected from behind the arc. Tavyn Southerland gave the Lady Black Knights their biggest lead at 27-19 when she got a jumper from the short corner to fall.
Morgan Brown scored the final four points of the first half and cut the lead down to 27-23 at the midway point.
West Greene got within two points at 29-27 when Brown found Madison Wagner on the block, but then Chuckey-Doak began to pull away again. Tavyn Southerland scored in transition and Saniah Atchison slashed through the defense to stretch the lead 34-27 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.
That is where West Greene’s defense began to lock down to start the comeback effort.
West Greene and Chuckey-Doak are both now 6-3 in District 1-2A play, and they will go into Friday with pivotal matchups that could decide the No. 2 seed in the upcoming district tournament. Chuckey-Doak will go to South Greene and West Greene travels to Hampton.
Tralyn Southerland led Chuckey-Doak with 13 points on Tuesday while Kennedy Brown had 11 points.
