The 13-3 Lady Rangers of Unaka were looking to upset the number seven team in the state, the Lady Huskies of North Greene. North Greene was able to hold off a late charge on Friday night and picked up a 52-48 win.
The Lady Huskies had to be at their best against a dangerous Unaka squad while still down multiple players, including senior guard and floor leader Ella Head.
“It took everyone of them,” North Greene coach James Buchanan said. “We shot it really well and that’s what it takes to beat a good them like Unaka. Late we got a little loose, and got tired but defensively. But we got some big stops and it was enough to win tonight.”
The game started off slow for the Lady Huskies and after Brooklyn Campbell knocked down a triple and two more baskets inside the Lady Rangers had 12-5 lead and forced Buchanan to call timeout to regroup his team with 2:05 remaining in the first quarter.
Whatever Buchanan did must have worked, as North Greene turned a seven point deficit into a four point lead over the next two minutes. Natalie Foshie filled in at the point and had back-to-back, coast-to-coast layups. That was followed by a corner three from Eva Leonard and a triple from the right elbow by Addi Dean.
The Lady Huskies led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.
The lead grew to nine points when Dean drilled a corner three and Leonard dropped back-to-back corner threes on consecutive possessions. The margin extended to as many as 13 after Tralyn Southerland made a pair from the line, muscled up one from in front and made another pair of free throws.
The Lady Huskies held a 34-24 halftime advantage.
North Greene struggled to score early in the third quarter and Unaka made its move. Arianna Southerland hit a couple of runners in the lane and Campbell dropped a triple from the elbow to close the gap to 40-34 with 2:40 yet to play in the third quarter.
Leonard hit her fifth three-pointer of the game from the corner in transition and made two more from the line as the quarter was winding down to get the score back 45-36 heading to the final frame.
Unaka made three consecutive three-pointers to start the fourth quarter, but a pair from the line by Southerland kept the Lady Huskies in front by a slim two-point margin at 47-45.
Leonard was all alone in the corner for her sixth three-pointer of the game to bring it back to a five-point lead with a score of 50-45 with less than three minutes to play. The Lady Huskies ran some clock, Southerland hit two more free throws, and Southerland came up with a big steal to ice it in the waning seconds as the shorthanded Lady Huskies held on for a 52-48 win.
NORTH GREENE – Leonard 22, Southerland 12, Foshie 9, Dean 9
UNAKA – Southerland 11, Shields 8, Douglas 5, Parker 2, Campbell11, Shepard 6, Mcgue2, Dugger 3
BOYS
UNAKA 63, NORTH GREENE 48
Unaka was able to pull away from North Greene late on Friday night and hand the Huskies their first loss in District 1-1A play, 63-48.
“We battled for three, three and a half quarters while in a deficit against a really good team like them. It’s hard to claw your way back,” North Greene coach Matt Weems said. “I thought we had a pretty good game plan. They’re big and I didn’t want that to detour us from getting into the paint. We were 12 of 20 inside the three-point line so I’m pretty proud of that and we proved we can play with teams like that. I felt like we had a bad fourth quarter, we turned it over a couple times in a row. We did bone-head things, things you can’t do if you expect to win.”
North Greene started off the game with a pair of layups by Thomas Darnell driving the lane and finished off the quarter with three consecutive three pointers. Isaac Gaby hit the first from the elbow before Kingston Ricker squared up from the corner and Tyler Britton drained one from NBA range to put the Huskies in front 15-14 over a much taller Unaka team.
The Huskies maintained the lead when Britton drove the lane for a layup through contact, his free toss was good for the old-fashioned-three-point play. Jaiden Bailey’s corner three gave the Huskies a four-point advantage at 24-20.
Unaka’s 6’9” junior, John Hardin, showed off his scoring range with a triple from the top of the key. Britton connected from behind the arc again, but the Rangers came right back with baskets by the Wallin brothers, Zack and Justis and the visiting Rangers had a one point lead at the half, 27-26.
Unaka’s lead went to nine, led by the Wallin brothers and Hardin. A steal by Ricker converted into a layup and a reverse layup by Havoc Fair kept the Huskies in striking distance at 45-38 at the end of the third quarter.
Britton got the Huskies within five points with free throw line jumper, but the next five minutes proved to be costly for the Huskies.
Hardin scored from underneath and the Wallin brothers both hit free throws. By the time the Huskies could score again they were down by a dozen points. The Rangers pulled away late and went on to win by a final score of 63-48.
NORTH GREENE – Britton 17, Darnell 10, Bailey 8, Gaby 6, Ricker 5, Fair 2
UNAKA – Hardin 23, ZWallin 16, JWallin 10, Good 7, Fuller 2, Walsh
