Even though they limped to finish line the Greeneville girls basketball team started the new year by taking down West Ridge 66-61 on Saturday afternoon.
“It was an ugly ball game,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “We have to have energy and we need to enjoy playing. I think they are sucking the fun out of the game. We are going to have to turn that around real quick, because we have some tough games coming up.”
Greeneville’s win over West Ridge comes just over two weeks after the Lady Wolves topped the Lady Devils by 17 points in Blountville.
The Lady Greene Devils started Saturday by using tough defense to get in front quickly and played from in front for almost the whole day.
Matea Gray got the scoring started by knocking down a short jumper from the right elbow, but it took the Lady Devils almost five minutes to sink a second field goal. Gray led the defensive effort from the top and got her hands on all sorts of Lady Wolves’ passes. That pestering presence held West Ridge to four points through the first 7:43 of the contest.
“That defense was so huge. We can count on Matea to bring that every single day. She makes those hustle plays and is where she is supposed to be when she is supposed to be there,” Watts said.
Defense finally turned into offense over the final two minutes of the first quarter. That started with Gray coming up with a steal on one end and then nailing a jump shot from the short corner on the other end for a 7-4 lead. On the Lady Wolves’ next possession it was Allison Hayes who swiped the ball. That led to Brylee Tullock hitting Gray in transition for a layup.
West Ridge’s Avery Stedman broke a nearly five-minute scoring drought with a triple from the corner, but Greeneville closed the period leading 12-7.
Less than two minutes into the second quarter Hayes drove into the paint and dished to Tullock in the corner for a three-pointer that put Greeneville on top 19-9.
The teams traded shots for the remainder of the first half. Kinsley Spradlen hit from deep for Greeneville while Tullock scored four more points. For West Ridge Carter Jones scored seven points, but Greeneville went to halftime leading 28-21.
Neither defense was particularly effective in the second quarter as the two teams traded blows while combining for 40 points.
The Lady Devils started the scoring by using good ball movement to set up Julia Woolsey for a layup through contact. Woolsey missed her free throw, but Tullock grabbed the rebound and put it back to put Greeneville in front 32-21.
After that Maria Lyde went to work inside for Greeneville as she powered home 10 points in the period.
Lyde scored 21 of her team-high 22 points in the second half on Saturday after she sat the entirety of the second quarter with two fouls.
“Maria getting back in there in the third quarter and showing some energy was really big,” Watts said. “It was huge for us to be able to go to her in the second half. But she has to stop getting two early fouls, she knows that.”
Lyde’s final points of the quarter came on an inbound play under the basket with 14 seconds on the clock. The shot gave Greeneville its biggest lead of the day at 49-36.
Going the other way Jones was fouled and made two free tosses to set the margin at 49-38 going into the final frame.
Jones found the hot hand in the fourth quarter as she poured in 12 points for the Lady Wolves. With 5:50 left to play she cut Greeneville’s lead down to 53-49 when she steamrolled through the paint.
Lyde followed with seven straight points for the Lady Greene Devils. With 1:38 left to play she jumped a pass at midcourt and took it the other way for a layup that turned into an old-fashioned-three-point play. That put Greeneville in front 60-51.
In the final 1:03 Jones and Stedman landed triples for West Ridge, but Greeneville went 6-of-8 at the foul line to stay in front on the way to a 66-61 win.
Jones led all scorers on Saturday with 28 points while Stedman added 17 points for the Lady Wolves.
For Greeneville Lyde finished the day with 22 points and eight rebounds. Tullock had 19 points, Gray had 12 points and five steals, and Julia Woolsey had six points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Greeneville will be back in action on Tuesday at home against Alcoa.
