ROGERSVILLE – The South Greene Lady Rebels were down three starters on Wednesday due to illness and had to shuffle their rotation going into their matchup with University High in the first round of the Big H BBQ Bash. The Lady Rebels found the right mixture of playing styles and walked off the court with a successful 50-26 win over the Lady Buccaneers.
“It was a different lineup. Seems like we’ve had seven games and about five or six different lineups already. Right now it’s due to sickness. We had to shuffle some people in there and it was good because different people had to play different roles tonight,” South Greene Head Coach Stephen Gregg mentioned.
Without starters Madison Hensley, Kortnei Bailey, and Samantha Birdwell, the Lady Rebels were looking thin. New faces touched the floor and new faces were called up to the varsity roster to help fill those roles. Without three starters, Alexa Gabbard, Nevaeh Davis, and Reagan Arrowood filled those three missing spots.
Ari Hoese, one of the remaining two starters, led the Lady Rebels in scoring with 11 points in their Big H BBQ Bash debut. South Greene improved to 5-2 (2-0) after the win.
University began the game on a 6-0 run with a pair of three-point field goals from Emma Chandley and Maggie Ryder. The Lady Rebels didn’t show any fear and soon went on a 16-0 run to build a sizable lead. Davis landed a fadeaway then drained a three-point bomb later. Natalie Foshie scored nine in-a-row to end the quarter with a pair of three pointers included. All nine of her points occurred in that span.
South Greene led 14-6 after one.
Reagan Arrowood opened the second quarter with a putback layup before Maggie Ryder killed the run with a running baseline shot. Hoese led South Greene in scoring with 11 points, but didn’t get her first shot to fall until a three-point bucket stripped the net in the second. She followed that up with a running bank shot through the lane.
“We told her the roles had changed tonight and with her being one of our experienced players she needed to put up some shots and she did,” Gregg said.
Macy Roberts banked in a pair of layups to help the Lady Rebels lead 32-15 at the break.
South Greene’s defense shut down University and held them to just three points in the third quarter. Hoese and Paisley Brobeck scored four each in the frame. Leading 42-18 heading into the fourth, South Greene was able to cruise comfortably to a win in the fourth. Trinity Barner scored a late basket add her name as the seventh different player to score in Wednesday night’s game.
The Lady Rebels advanced to Friday’s semifinals with a 50-26 win.
“It took them a few trips to get going and learn. We still had a sloppy first half without a point guard. We knew there would be opportunities for other people to step up. To never have really played with that group on the floor it wasn’t terrible. But we’ve got to be better each time we take the floor moving forward no matter what lineup we have in there,” Gregg stated.
Hoese scored a team-high 11 points with Nevaeh Davis and Paisley Brobeck joining her in double figures with 10 points each.
Maggie Ryder scored the game-leading 13 points for University with a trio of triples.
