RUTLEDGE – For the second time in a week the Greeneville girls basketball team overwhelmed Volunteer, but this time it meant a lot more.
On Thursday night in the District 2-3A Tournament semifinals at Grainger High School the Lady Greene Devils earned a dominant 72-24 win over the Lady Falcons.
“I thought Volunteer had a great game plan, and we struggled a little early. But the more we ran, the more we moved and the more our defense created offense the better things went,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “I felt like our defense really came on in the second half. We’re in the championship game now. Whoever we play we have to bring that defensive effort. We can score … normally, but we have to control the game with our defense.”
With the win Greeneville moves on to the District 2-3A Championship game where it will meet Cherokee on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Grainger. Cherokee beat Grainger 62-58 in the other semifinal game on Thursday.
Thursday’s game started with the Lady Falcons packing the lane and making it difficult for Greeneville to score inside. That worked for a couple of possessions but eventually Brylee Tullock and Julia Woolsey got loose in transition for a 4-1 lead.
Greeneville’s lead reached 12-5 when Volunteer lost track of Matea Gray and Maria Lyde found her coming down the baseline for a layup.
The quarter closed with the Lady Devils leading 14-9.
In the second quarter Greeneville’s defense tightened up and it started to lead to more offensive opportunities in transition. Through first 6:54 of the period Greeneville allowed just one point. Gray and Woolsey disrupted plenty of Lady Falcons’ offensive sets before they even got started while Tullock and Lyde dominated the boards when shots did go up.
“We had to focus on our girl and not let her drive middle. We know they love to drive and kick to a shooter. You have to stay in front of your girl and shut down that drive. Once we started doing that we began to shut them down,” Watts said.
With 4:41 left in the frame Greeneville’s lead reached 20-10 when Tullock hit Woolsey looping around the defense on an inbound play.
Over the next minute Lyde scored four points, and then Greeneville got four points from Tullock as the lead reached 29-10.
Two free throws from Woolsey gave Greeneville its biggest lead of the first half at 31-10.
In the final 1:06 Volunteer scored five points and cut the Lady Devils’ lead to 31-15.
All night long Greeneville spread the ball around on offense and it was reflected in the scoring column with Tullock dropping in 20 points, Lyde 19 and Woolsey 18.
“Didn’t we have some great passes? We moved the ball really well. It’s huge to know that they can’t focus on guarding one player. Really we made them guard all five tonight,” Watts said.
At the start of the third quarter Greeneville extended its defensive pressure to all 94 feet and in the first minute of the second half the Lady Devils forced two five-second calls. When Volunteer was able to get the ball into play Greeneville came up three steals in the first two minutes.
“We really needed that for our hearts and souls,” Watts said. “ We came out and ran and jumped, and did some things that we haven’t done a lot this year. Now we have to carry that on to Monday night.”
Just four seconds into the third quarter Gray nailed a jumper from the elbow, and before a minute had run off the clock Woolsey and Lyde scored in the paint to increase the advantage to 37-15.
After a Lady Falcons’ free throw broke the 6-0 run, Woolsey got Greeneville going again with an old-fashioned-three-point play. The Lady Devils’ lead reached 43-16 at the midway point when Tullock drove through traffic for a lay in.
With 2:12 left in the third quarter Volunteer’s Emma Miller made her team’s first field goal of the second half.
Greeneville’s lead reached 52-19 after Tullock came up with consecutive transition buckets.
The Lady Greene Devils started the fourth quarter leading 52-21.
Volunteer’s Elizabeth Byington started the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, and then the Lady Falcons went scoreless over the final 7:37 of the contest.
Greeneville finished the night on a 20-0 run with five different players scoring, including Paizley Christian landing a jumper from the right wing and Allison Hayes sinking a three-pointer.
Tullock finished the night with 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Lyde had 19 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, and three blocks. Woolsey had 18 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Emma Miller led Volunteer with eight points.
