RUTLEDGE – The Greeneville girls visited Rutledge on Friday night and returned home with a key conference win to begin their District 2-3A season 1-0 with a 62-42 victory over Grainger.
“It feels so good. I’m really glad that they were a team that did a lot of pressing, and running, and jumping, and trapping. Because we need that. We need to understand how that happens and what we need to be doing to break it. I was really proud of our guards and our forwards for understanding and breaking that,” Lady Devils Head Coach Annette Watts expressed.
Coach Watts and the Lady Devils knew Friday’s matchup wouldn’t be easy. Road wins are hard to come by and especially in a place like Grainger. Greeneville knew this going in and took the fight to them first and only trailed twice very early.
The Greeneville lead ballooned to 16 at one point, but was chopped down to 4 at the beginning of the fourth. Greeneville proceeded to shoot 11-for-12 in the fourth and finished on a 23-7 run to run away with the win.
“It was so crucial and I kept telling them to attack the hoop, attack the hoop, and go to the basket and most of those 11-for-12 were little jumpers inside or underneath shots,” Watts stated.
The Lady Devils were able to flip the pressure on to Grainger and force many turnovers that eventually led to points on the other end. “I thought everything we did defensively was pretty solid,” Coach Watts said. “We’re beginning to talk and move and that’s good.”
The triple threat attack of Brylee Tullock, Maria Lyde, and Julia Woolsey scored 52 of Greeneville’s 62 points, 84%, on Friday. Coach Watts spoke about the importance of having three lethal scorers that opposing defenses have to prepare for. “That’s when we’re hitting on all cylinders. And, of course, Matea knocked down a couple and Jordan knocked down a three.”
Greeneville’s record improved to 13-8 (1-0) after the win. Cherokee defeated Volunteer tonight in each team’s first District 2-3A action. The Lady Devils and Lady Chiefs both begin 1-0.
Grainger’s McKinley Moore began Friday’s action with a layup. Lyde tied it with a layup in response and Tullock’s two points took the lead. Greeneville led from that moment on until the final buzzer sounded. Tullock’s bucket sparked a 10-0 run and Grainger was held scoreless for four minutes. Tullock and Matea Gray drained three-pointers and Woolsey scored with a layup. Cora Dalton ended the scoreless drought for Grainger. Woolsey ended the quarter scoring four-straight as Greeneville’s lead sat at 16-5 after one quarter of play.
The Lady Devils kept applying pressure and began the quarter with a wide-open layup by Tullock after Woolsey’s steal on defense. Greeneville relied heavily on points in the paint and scored all twelve points in the second quarter on layups. Gray, Lyde, and Woolsey contributed in the quarter. Greeneville led 28-13 at the break.
Abrie Nickels started the second half with a second-chance layup. Jordan Swatzell drained a step-back three to break out of Greeneville’s scoring streak in the paint. Julia Woolsey scored a layup to give them their biggest lead at 33-17 before Grainger started heating up. The Lady Grizzlies then went on an 18-4 run to dig their way out of the huge hole Greeneville had stuffed them in.
The Lady Devils led 39-32 after three and Briley Caldwell’s three cut it to the four-point margin. After Caldwell’s triple Greeneville finished the game shooting 11-for-12 and finished on a 23-7 run.
Brylee Tullock started the scoring barrage with a lay in and Maria Lyde continued with a layup to follow. Grainger scored four-straight to cut it back to four, but went ice cold for the rest of the fourth. Greeneville led 43-39 and bullied Grainger in the final four minutes outscoring them 19-3. To make matters seem worse, Greeneville finished on an impressive 11-0 run led by Maria Lyde scoring nine of the final eleven.
Greeneville dominated in the fourth quarter and left Rutledge with a 62-42 win over Grainger to start conference action.
“It is always good to start the conference 1-0. And on the road at that,” Watts expressed.
Brylee Tullock led Greeneville with a loaded stat line. 19 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 7 steals. Maria Lyde scored 17 points and had 8 rebounds, and 5 steals. Julia Woolsey had 16 points with 6 assists. Jordan Swatzell hauled in 8 rebounds.
The Lady Devils host Volunteer on Tuesday at Hal Henard Gymnasium next.
