BRISTOL – The Greeneville Lady Devils took on a familiar foe in the Tennessee High Lady Vikings for fifth place in the Doc Maples Holiday Classic in Bristol on Saturday. Despite only having eight players the Lady Devils played lock-down defense to earn a 65-55 win over the Tournament hosts.
Greeneville coach Annette Watts said, “Defense! That’s our identity, at least is has been since I’ve been here for the last 12 years, and defense generated offense today.”
Both teams played at a blistering pace for about the first five minutes of the game, and with the score tied at 13-13 Kyla Jobe took over. Jobe dropped a triple from the right wing and just seconds later another from the left elbow.
Playing stiff defense has its rewards and its risk, the risk in this case was Maria Lyde picking up her third foul at the three minutes mark of the first quarter and she wouldn’t see action again until the second half. But Jobe was on a streak as she hit a pull-up jumper just inside the lane and then drilled a triple from the logo as the quarter was coming to a close. The Lady Devils finished the quarter on an 8-0 run for a 21-13 lead.
Jobe was still on a roll as the second quarter, making a pair of free tosses and another one of her patented pull-up jumpers in the lane. Julia Woolsey followed with nearly an identical pull-up jumper of her own and the Lady Devils were up 27-16.
By halftime the Lady Devils were up 31-19 with Jobe leading the way with 15 points in the first half.
The Lady Vikings made a run to cut the lead to six points with back-to-back three-pointers by Kerrigan West and Addi Moore respectively. But Lyde had re-entered the game and ended any run Tennessee had in mind. Lyde sank a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions then followed with an old-fashioned-three-point play. Lyde then finished off the third quarter with two more from the charity stripe and an easy layup in transition for 49-36 Lady Devil lead heading into the final stanza.
Abby Adkins scored from down low to open the fourth quarter and Matea Gray knocked down a corner three just seconds later. Lyde did a little pump fake and drew a foul as she went to the basket the basket was good but the free throw was not. The Lady Vikings were forced to foul down the stretch, but the Lady Devils made the free throws and came away with a 65-55 victory and a fifth-place finish in the 28th Annual Doc Maples Holiday Hoops Classic.
Jobe and Adkins both finished with double-doubles. Jobe had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Adkins with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Lyde came up one rebound shy of a double-double with nine rebounds and a game high 21 points.
