Both South Greene and Johnson County entered Tuesday night with perfect records against District 1-2A competitors, but only one could leave Tuesday night still unblemished.
Johnson County gave South Greene a battle, but the battle-tested Lady Rebels outlasted Johnson County for a 58-54 win in Tuesday night’s showdown.
“It feels good to know that you’re the front runner now. We’ve got that pressure game off our back so now we do hold our own destiny. Johnson County is a tough team. They were very resilient tonight. We knew we had a tough task ahead of us,” Lady Rebels Head Coach Stephen Gregg said.
The win helped South Greene move into sole possession of first place with a 5-0 record halfway through their 2025-26 District 1-2A schedule. South Greene improved to 13-8 overall and bumped their current winning streak up to four games.
“It’s still early. We’ve got to go through everybody one more time. We’ve got more road games than what we played on this first stretch. So, we’ve got to be prepared for a much tougher schedule going down this home stretch,” Coach Gregg mentioned.
The fourth quarter was a test for both defenses. Both offenses combined for 60 points entering the fourth quarter, but combined for a whopping 52 points in the fourth. South Greene actually lost the fourth-quarter battle 28-24 and almost gave the game away. The Lady Rebels stayed on the hunt and corrected their mistakes and managed to prevail. South Greene managed to force 27 turnovers and only commit 18 in the game and that made a huge difference down the stretch.
Kortnei Bailey led South Greene with 15 points. Paisley Brobeck scored 14 off the bench and Ari Hoese scored 10 to finish the trio of double-digit scorers. The Lady Rebels had 9 players score.
“Overall, it was a good performance. I had three girls in double digits. Paisley Brobeck’s first night out and she carried us really good there. She was solid in the first half,” Gregg expressed.
The game didn’t start in South Greene’s favor. Ari Hoese started the contest with a long two-pointer, but Johnson County then went on a 13-2 run to lead 13-4 hitting four three-pointers in the process. Trinity Borner and Hoese scored four-straight to end the quarter. South Greene only trailed 13-8 after one.
Kortnei Bailey and Paisley Brobeck both went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to open the quarter. Brobeck made a free-throw line jumper and Bailey went 1-for-2 again to cap off a 9-0 run that tied the game at 13-13. Brobeck broke the tie with a layup and extended the Lady Rebels scoring run. It ended at 11-straight after Mackenzie McClain’s layup.
Johnson County scored 7-straight next to take a 20-15 lead. South Greene finished the frame on an 8-2 run to lead 23-22 at halftime. Madison Fillers drained a three from the top of the key on South Greene’s final possession to regain the lead.
Alexa Gabbard began the second half with a layup and kickstarted a 10-0 run. Kortnei Bailey, Paisley Brobeck, Ari Hoese, and Reagan Arrowood helped chip in on the run. Chasidy Osborn made a tough bank shot with 33 seconds left for Johnson County’s only field goal of the third.
“That was huge because we’ve been having some bad third quarters coming out of the locker room and teams have been running away or making spurts and tonight that was us,” Coach Gregg explained.
South Greene led 34-26 entering the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth it seemed as if South Greene could run away with it. The Lady Rebels scored easily and led by as much as 12. Johnson County scored six-straight after falling behind 42-30.
With less than three minutes left the Lady Longhorns started making noise. Both teams traded points back-and-forth and the margin stayed at six. Audrey Shaw made a timely three-point bucket in the corner and Mackenzie McClain stole the inbounds pass. McClain mowed over Kortnei Bailey in the paint and things got confusing. One official called a blocking foul and one official called a charge, but when the dispute was settled, a technical foul was assessed to Johnson County Head Coach Martin McClain. The technical came by surprise and looked to maybe doom Johnson County. Instead of potentially shooting two free throws, Ari Hoese made two on the other end.
The margin was seven after the technical free throws, but Johnson County found ways to keep chipping away. South Greene led 56-49 with 32 seconds left. Two free throws by Audrey Shaw cut it to five. Sam Birdwell went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to bump it back to six, but another free throw from Shaw cut it to five. Shaw stole the ball after the inbounds pass and laid it in to make it 57-54 with 17 seconds left. Johnson County forced a crucial turnover with 13 seconds left and had the ball down three with a chance to tie. But South Greene managed to force a turnover next and breathed a sigh of relief.
“We just quit being aggressive. We got complacent,” Coach Gregg said.
The Lady Rebels held on late and survived to claim a 58-54 win.
“We overcame the sluggish start and settled in and got a little comfortable lead then there at the end it was just a free for all,” Gregg explained.
South Greene travels to Unicoi County next. The game was originally scheduled for Friday but has been pushed up to Thursday to avoid potential inclement weather.
