Tough defense made the difference for South Greene on Friday night as it picked up an important win over West Greene, 55-45.
“It was a battle from start to finish, and West Greene never went away,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “We fell behind early, but the girls did a good job responding. We did a good job of speeding the game up in the first half, but that also led to foul trouble. I think there are some things we can learn from this. But I felt like everybody gave us effort and they were trying to make something happen.”
The win gives South Greene a 2-0 record in District 1-2A play in the first week of conference play, and also makes the Lady Rebels the only team in the league with two wins. West Greene is now 1-1 in league play.
“Getting a win on the road was huge tonight. We’re the only team with an undefeated record right now. Sole possession of first place is big, but we still have some big games coming up after Christmas,” Gregg said.
It took more than two minutes for the Lady Rebels to score on Friday as they found themselves in a 5-0 hole early. Paisley Brobeck turned that around when she put back a miss and turned it into three points the hard way.
West Greene’s paint protector Joie Shipley picked up her second foul on the play, and that forced the Lady Buffaloes to change their game plan for the rest of the first half.
For the remainder of the first quarter South Greene went to a full-court press and completely stifled the Lady Buffaloes’ offense.
The Lady Rebels took the lead when a series of quick transition passes from Brobeck to Ari Hoese to Kortnei Bailey made it 7-5 with 4:40 left to play in the opening frame.
South Greene’s defense kept forcing turnovers and after Neveah Davis and Madison Fillers hit from behind the arc the Lady Rebels’ lead reached 15-6.
With 20 seconds left in the period Sarah Justis was able to break a more than six-minute scoring drought for the Lady Buffaloes but they went to the second quarter trailing 15-8.
South Greene kept the pressure up in the second quarter and after forcing a 10-second violation Bailey slashed through the paint to put push the advantage to 24-12.
Shortly after Shipley returned to the lineup and gave a big boost to the Lady Buffs on both ends of the floor. Emily Justis was able to cap a 9-0 run with triple from the left wing to close the gap to 24-21.
Davis then beat the buzzer for South Greene by banking home a deep three that sent the Lady Rebels to halftime leading 27-21.
In the third quarter South Greene got a pair of three-pointers from Ari Hoese, but West Greene was able to keep pace with Payton Norton twice striking from behind the arc.
With 1:35 left Norton dropped in a floater that closed the gap to 37-34.
In the final 1:11 of the period Bailey went 3-for-4 from the foul line to stretch South Greene’s lead to 40-34 heading into the final frame.
South Greene’s lead quickly moved to double digits after Hoese and Samantha Birdwell both sank three-pointers for a 46-36 advantage.
From there the Lady Rebels got the job done with defense and never let West Greene get back inside eight points before earning a 55-45 win.
Bailey led South Greene with 16 points on Friday while Hoese put in 11 points.
Shipley and Norton each scored 13 points for West Greene.
The South Greene Lady Rebels grabbed an important 55-45 win on the road over West Greene on Friday night to improve to 2-0 early into their District 1-2A schedule. Hear what Head Coach Stephen Gregg’s comments were after picking up the win. pic.twitter.com/anstO7oZit
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
In a gritty game which saw both teams have a player foul out, the Lady Rebels came out on top over West Greene, 55-45#FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/qgz8uhhlJ6
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
The South Greene girls came into Buffalo territory and walked away with a 55-45 victory. #FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/wFqFIAyGrj
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
