The North Greene girls sent its seniors out in style on Friday night as they dominated Hampton and collected a 68-34 win in District 1-1A play.
Coach James Buchanan praised his entire team, especially his two seniors Natalie Foshie and Ella Head, saying, “Tonight Natalie did more of what she normally does in making us a more successful team in taking care of the ball and making the right decisions and leading us. Ella had a big night scoring with 17 points and knocking down some three’s in the first half. I’m happy for all of them and I’m proud of all them.”
The Lady Huskies started fast scoring 22 points in the first quarter. Eva Leonard gave the Lady Huskies a 7-3 lead with a triple from the elbow. Head then went to work scoring in the lane and followed that with a corner three that sent Hampton into a timeout at the 5:31 mark.
Leonard extended the Lady Huskies’ led to double digits with a corner three that made it 19-9. Tralyn Southerland scored the final three points of the first quarter with triple from the top of the key for a 22-11 lead.
Head opened the second quarter with a three-pointer at the elbow and a runner in the lane. Leonard was left alone at the top of the key and made the Lady Bulldogs pay with her second triple of the night and extended the lead to 30-13.
Josie Graham then went coast to coast after a steal that forced the Lady Bulldogs into another timeout. The timeout didn’t slow down the Lady Huskies at all as Head and Leonard connected for back-to-back corner three’s and a 21 point lead at 41-20.
Leonard finished the off a 9-0 run to end the quarter with a layup and the lady Huskies were up 43-20 at the half.
Graham made a layup to start the second half and Southerland backed that up with a layup of her own, then Southerland sent a pass to Grahams in transition for an easy two points and the Lady Huskies were clicking on all cylinders now leading 49-22.
North Greene led 58-26 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter Buchanan took out his seniors one at a time to give them one last applause in front of the home crowd before finally replacing them all and letting the reserves finish out the game.
The Lady Huskies finished the night with a 68-34 victory.
The Lady Huskies had three players in double figures, Leonard scored 19 points, including five from outside the arc. Head had 17 and Southerland netted 13.
The Lady Huskies will be back in action on Saturday against University High to wrap up league play. With a win over the 1-25 Lady Buccaneers North Greene will lock up the No.2 seed in the upcoming District 1-1A Tournament.
NORTH GREENE- Leonard 19, Head 17, Southerland 13, Graham 6, Foshie 4, McDevitt 3, Dean 2, Eastep 2
HAMPTON – Baird 14, Jenkins 9, Smith 7, Potter 2, Smith 2
BOYS
Hampton 61, North Greene 53
The North Greene Boys battled the top team in District 1-1A for four quarters but came up a little short, losing to Hampton 61-53 on Friday.
North Greene head coach Matt Weems said, “We came in with a game plan tonight, we didn’t have the best week of practice this week but I felt like my guys really bought into what we were going to try and do tonight. They followed it and battled their tails off. We gave them all they wanted and I couldn’t be more proud to be their coach.”
The first quarter was nip and tuck and after Jaiden Bailey hit a triple from the bend the Huskies had the early lead at 7-6. Thomas Darnell drove the lane on consecutive possessions for two layups and Havoc Fair added the final points in the quarter for the Huskies. But Chase Davenport gave the Bulldogs the lead with a corner three and a layup in transition that made it 16-13.
Tyler Britton tied the score at 16-16 with a three from the corner, his 1,000th point as a Husky. Darnell put the Huskies ahead with a shot from inside paint and Britton knocked down another triple before Davenport scored on three consecutive possessions. Colby Clark then contributed back to back buckets for Hampton.
Bailey scored the next eight points for the Huskies on a pair of corner threes and layup to pull North Greene to within three points at 32-29. The Bulldogs led at the half by a score of 36-31, but the game plan was working, keeping the Huskies close.
In the third quarter the Huskies managed to draw within five points at one time when Darnell hit a runner in the lane but consecutive corner threes by Davenport extended the lead to 49-39.
Kingston Ricker dropped a triple from the corner and Bailey made a pair from the line to cut the deficit to seven points by the end of the quarter at 51-44.
As the fourth quarter got underway the Huskies went nearly four minutes without scoring but the Bulldogs couldn’t capitalize and extend the lead.
Bailey finally broke the ice in the fourth quarter with a triple from the top of the key to get the score to 53-47. The Huskies scoring drought continued until Britton made a three from the elbow to draw within five at 55-50 with 2:40 to play.
The Bulldogs were very deliberate from that point on and scored on the next three possessions before going on to a 61-53 win over the Huskies.
Tyler Britton was Presented with a commemorative basketball at halftime for his 1000th point as a North Greene Husky. Bailey led North Greene with 16 points on Friday, Britton had 15 and Darnell 14 points.
Hampton’s Davenport led all scorers with 27 points.
NORTH GREENE- Bailey 16, Britton 15, Darnell 14, Fair 5, Ricker 3
HAMPTON- Davenport 27, Clark 17, Robinson 11, Fagon 6, Tolley 5
