What was working for North Greene’s offense changed between halves on Tuesday, but using different styles the Lady Huskies were able stay in front of South Greene all night long on the way to collecting a 60-46 win over their cross-county rivals.
“A lot of good things happened tonight, and I don’t know that I can even mention all of them,” North Greene coach James Buchanan said. “We played really good defense in man and zone. We knocked down shots. Overall it was a great team win.”
The first half was a showcase of Tralyn Southerland’s power in the paint as she scored 18 of the Lady Huskies’ 25 points. Then in the second half North Greene’s guards got going with outside shots, drives to the hoop and transition buckets that extended the lead.
“These girls play so hard and it’s really special to get in the gym everyday and work on stuff with them,” Buchanan said. “We know that we can plug and play with every kid if we have to take someone out of the lineup. When Tralyn goes out Ella (Head) slid into that four spot and played with such a high IQ. Eva (Leonard) has rescued us with her ability to hit from the outside and handle the ball against pressure. It was good to see them benefit from that work they have put in.”
Southerland, a sophomore, finished Tuesday with a game-high 21 points against the senior laden Lady Rebels.
“The sky is the limit for her and I think she is just going to get better. Right now your are seeing her in the paint, because people have trouble guard her in the paint,” Buchanan said. “But going forward I think you could see her as a ball handler, a passer and three-point shooter because she is really good at all of those things.”
Southerland’s day started by scoring North Greene’s first nine points as the Lady Huskies jumped out to a 9-3 lead by the midway point of the first quarter.
South Greene found some life when Samantha Birdwell stole the ball in the backcourt and turned it into a quick elbow jumper. Alexa Gabbard forced another steal before North Greene could make it back to the midcourt stripe and Kortnei Bailey used a layup to close the gap to 9-7.
South Greene got four more points from Bailey, but North Greene went into the second quarter leading 13-11.
After Bailey scored seven points in the first quarter North Greene held her to just five points over the next three frames as the defense did a better job finding ways to keep her from getting into the paint.
“They move (Bailey) around a lot, and we thought she could be really dangerous in the middle of our zone,” Buchanan said. “I just told them to choose wisely. When you are in a zone you can be in a situation where it’s hard to cover it all. For the most part, though, they made the best choice. We tried to throw multiple looks at her and multiple bodies at her, and I’m happy to have done so well tonight.”
The second quarter started with North Greene’s Josie Graham taking a steal the distance. Southerland then went back to work and scored nine more points.
South Greene used three-pointers from Ari Hoese and Neveah Davis to hang around, but North Greene led 25-19 at halftime.
As the second half got underway North Greene’s guards began to take over the scoring burden while on the defensive end they made it hard for South Greene to get inside.
Natalie Foshie and Eva Leonard each hit from long range and then Ella Head took a steal the length of the floor to stretch the lead to 33-19.
Davis answered with a pair of three-pointers for the Lady Rebels, but then Leonard struck from deep in the corner for a 40-25 advantage.
Addi Dean got loose on a fast break and Head went 4-of-4 at the charity stripe as the third quarter closed with North Greene leading 47-29.
North Greene took its biggest lead with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter when Foshie knocked down three-pointer that made it 52-29.
Much of the rest of the night was spent at the free throw line where South Greene went 9-of-11 and North Greene went 4-of-11 in the final stretch.
Southerland led North Greene with 21 points on Tuesday while Head added 10. Foshie scored nine points, Leonard had eight and Dean scored seven points for North Greene.
Bailey finished with 12 points for South Greene while Davis had 11.
Both teams will finish the week with some important district contests. North Greene will host Hampton on Friday and go to University High on Saturday.
South Greene will host David Crockett on Thursday before heading to Chuckey-Doak on Friday with the top seed in the District 1-2A Tournament on the line.
