The South Greene girls basketball team finished in style on Thursday night as they pulled away from David Crockett on the way to a 62-47 senior night win.
“It was an emotional environment tonight with it being senior night, and the girls really wanted to win,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “Honestly, I didn’t think we would play this hard with as many game as we have played recently. We had several girls play really well on defense and that felt good. I have to give them credit for how they stepped up on defense in the second half. Then Kortnei (Bailey) just took over on offense at the end.”
Kortnei Bailey led the furious finish as she poured in 14 points in the final five minutes as the Lady Rebels finished the night on a 19-4 run. Bailey led all scorers on Thursday with 28 points in the contest.
“We saw Kortnei do that last year in the district tournament and we know she is capable of doing that. When she gets going like that everybody feeds off of it,” Gregg said.
Thursday’s fourth quarter started with South Greene leading 40-39, but after Brianna Watson made a free throw for the Lady Pioneers things were tied at 43-43.
Trinity Borner gave the lead back to South Greene when she put back an offensive rebound with 5:07 left to play.
Bailey then reentered the game after sitting briefly with an ankle injury. With a new tape job she showed no signs of wear and quickly sped up the defense with a half-court drive for a layup. She then finished off a steal by Alexa Gabbard to stretch the lead to 49-43.
Going the other way David Crockett’s Autumn Winn missed a four-footer by nearly four feet and in frustration threw Bailey to the ground on the rebound. The intentional foul only further fanned Bailey’s flame, and over the next three minutes the senior added 10 points before the lead reached 62-47 at the final horn.
In addition to Bailey’s scoring outburst South Greene’s defense did not give up a field goal in the final 6:15, holding David Crockett to eight total points in the fourth quarter.
“We went with a token zone late. We are trying to key on certain in-game assignments. We were shooting passing lanes, and trying to give good backside help on their post. There was much better attention to detail on the defensive end tonight,” Gregg said.
For South Greene’s nine seniors it might be the last time they play on Rebel Hill and Gregg was proud of the finishing effort they showed on Thursday. Of course, they could be back at home for the region tournament quarterfinals with a top two finish in the upcoming District 1-2A Tournament.
“You always remember your last home game, and it was important to them to win tonight,” Gregg said. “I’m sure they are happy tonight. This has been a great group, and they will definitely be missed.”
Through the first four minutes of Thursday’s contest the team’s traded points, but with 3:41 left in the first quarter Ari Hoese nailed a three-pointer for the Lady Rebels. Bailey immediately stole the ball on the baseline and landed a jumper from block. That put South Greene in command at 10-6.
Hoese sank a three-pointer, and after a steal by Gabbard led to two free throws from Neveah Davis South Greene held an 18-10 lead.
In the final 27 seconds Crockett’s Lexi Hawkins sank a three-pointer and Maison Orr made a free throw that closed the gap to 18-14.
Two layups by Bailey and a three-pointer from Davis pushed South Greene’s lead to 25-18, but fouls began to mount for the Lady Rebels and Gregg had to go deeper into his rotation.
The Lady Pioneers took advantage and with 24 seconds left in the half Winn put back a miss that tied things at 26-26.
In the third quarter David Crockett briefly went in front at 30-29 when Jaidyn Howard turned a baseline steal into a layup.
The Lady Rebels regained the advantage when Gabbard put in a transition layup through contact to make it 35-34.
Again, the Lady Pioneers went in front at 39-37 when Hannah Ward sank a triple from the corner.
With two seconds on the clock Hoese got to the rim for South Greene and put the Lady Rebels in front 40-39.
Hoese was also in double figures for South Greene with 12 points. Winn led David Crockett with 18 points.
South Greene now turns its attention to Chuckey-Doak on Friday night. With a win the Lady Rebels can clinch the top seed in the District 1-2A Tournament.
