NEWPORT – The Greeneville girls basketball team’s season came to an unfortunate end on Saturday night with a 72-50 loss to Cocke County in Saturday’s 3A sectional round.
“This is the one that hurts because you’re so close,” Lady Devils Head Coach Annette Watts spoke about losing one game short of the state tournament.
Not only did Greeneville’s season end, but so did head coach Annette Watts’ coaching career with the Lady Devils. Rumors had swirled around all season and Coach Watts confirmed the rumor after Saturday’s loss.
Watts ends her 13-year Greeneville tenure as the second winningest coach in Lady Devil history with 274 wins. Watts began coaching at Greeneville in 2013 after previously serving as an assistant from 1985-92. She currently has 603 career wins.
Watts was very candid about stepping away from the program. When asked if she would come back for another year in her postgame radio interview she replied, “I don’t think my admin or my superintendent would ever let that happen. I think they’ve had all of my big mouth that they want.”
And what may the future hold? As of now, that is unknown. Coach Watts spoke about her future and simply stated, “I don’t know. Still pondering.”
For the game itself, Cocke County was hard to handle in its own gym. Winners of eight-straight and 19 of their last 20 with an eight-game home winning streak. Greeneville knew it would be tough, and tough it was.
Junior Karmine Carmichael was dominant. 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Carmichael also took the task of guarding Brylee Tullock after Tullock’s flurry of three-pointers in the second quarter and limited her to 11 points in the second half.
“I feel like the change (Coach Bodie Bible) made putting Carmichael on Brylee really, really bothered us and I just couldn’t get them to understand that now we have Carmichael out there. Let’s hit Jules and Maria. Let’s go to work in there. That’s something we haven’t done all year and it’s hard to come into a game like this and make an adjustment like that,” Coach Watts explained.
The Lady Red had four players in double figures. Blakelyn Clevenger scored 15, Brooklyn Clevenger scored 11, and Ava Wheeler scored 10.
Brylee Tullock led Greeneville with 25 points in her final high school game. The senior guard finished her career with 2,638 points which is good enough for 5th on the all-time scoring list in Northeast Tennessee for 5-on-5 girls’ competition.
“The portal was good to us. I loved what the portal sent us, but I do wish I had her for four years,” Watts explained.
Greeneville finished the season 23-11 (5-1) with the District 2-3A regular season and tournament championships and were runner-up in the Region 1-3A tournament.
Cocke County advanced to its 3rd-consecutive Class 3A State Tournament.
The Lady Red were alive and well and so were the Cocke Pit Crazies. Newport was out in full support on Saturday.
Karmine Carmichael started the game with a layup on the first possession and Cocke County led first. Brylee Tullock tied it with a layup before Carmichael put back her own miss to break the tie. Senior Jordan Swatzell sank a three and caused the first lead change with Greeneville taking a 5-4 lead. Carmichael drove baseline for a layup to swing the lead back to Cocke County before freshman Allison Hayes drained a three-pointer for another early lead change. Ellie Proffitt tied it, 9-9, with a three-pointer. Carmichael sank a pair of foul shots and broke the tie before Greeneville finished the quarter on a 7-0 run. Woolsey scored five-straight with a mid-range jumper followed by a catch-and-shoot three. Tullock finished the frame with a steal and a wide-open layup.
Greeneville led 16-11 after one.
Blakelyn Clevenger began the second with a layup and Tullock immediately responded with a three. The same thing happened again with Blakelyn Clevenger scoring two and Tullock hitting a three. Tullock sank her third three-point bomb of the quarter and gave Greeneville their largest lead of the night, 25-19.
From there on it was all Cocke County. The Lady Red finished the half on a 14-2 run. Greeneville went from leading by 6 to losing by 6 at halftime. The Lady Devils trailed 33-27 at the break.
Greeneville shot 47 percent (9-for-19) in the first half. Cocke County shot 59 percent (13-for-22).
The run actually grew to as large as 16-2 with Ellie Proffitt’s two free throws to open the half. Brylee Tullock’s layup killed the run.
Maria Lyde was a non-factor in the first half with only two points. Lyde’s layup in the second half would unfortunately be her only field goal of the game and she was held to a season-low four points and fouled out late in the fourth.
The Lady Devils gave up a huge run in the second, but played close to the lead in the early part of the third. Matea Gray’s transition layup cut it to four and Woolsey’s catch-and-shoot three cut it to three, 39-36. Brylee Tullock scored six-straight for Greeneville, but Cocke County countered every time she scored. Tullock’s transition layup made it 46-42 before another run was carried out by Lady Red. Karmine Carmichael scored six-straight to end the third and created a ten-point advantage.
Greeneville trailed 52-42 entering the fourth.
Carmichael made it eight-straight with a layup to start the fourth. After Julia Woolsey scored with a layup, Cooke County went on an 8-2 run and took full control of the game. The lead grew to 63-45. Time was running out and Greeneville had no answers for Cocke County’s attack. Allison Hayes sank a three-point shot and cut it to 15 with 2:30 remaining, but couldn’t find any more offense the rest of the way. Cocke County finished on a 7-0 run.
Greeneville watched its season come to a close with a 72-50 loss to Cocke County in the Class 3A sectionals.
Greeneville finished 23-11. Seniors Matea Gray, Jordan Swatzell, Brylee Tullock, and Emma Shelton leave the program after the loss.
“I’m just so proud of this team. Nobody would’ve given us a doodlyflop to start this year. And look how far we came,” Coach Watts left off with.
Photos By Bryan Cannon
