MORRISTOWN – After an erratic first half the Greeneville girls basketball team turned up the intensity in the second half to run away from Morristown East for a 72-52 win.
The win broke a four-game losing streak to the Lady Hurricanes, and extends the Lady Greene Devils win streak early in the 2025-26 campaign to five games as they now sit at 5-2.
“This team came to play tonight,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “We executed everything we did in practice. Our camaraderie and teamwork was great. We were a machine on the boards. I was really impressed with my team tonight, and I’m really proud of them.”
After leading by as many as 18 points in the first half Greeneville went into halftime clinging to a 35-32 advantage.
The third quarter began with the exchange of a few buckets before the Lady Devils found their stroke from behind the arc. Brylee Tullock started a 13-0 run when she took in a pass from Julia Woolsey and drained a triple from the left wing.
Tullock knocked down another triple from the same spot 30 seconds later, and then Woolsey delivered a pass from the block to Alison Hayes in the corner for a third three-pointer in a 50-second span.
“We were executing our plays and that was getting people open,” Tullock said. “When we got to the middle they crashed down, and left me open on the outside. When we went one-on-one they shut us down, so passing the ball is what we had to do. Moving the ball kept working and we just kept doing it.”
Woolsey delivered the right passes all night long while being a force on the boards in a double-double effort. She finished with 16 rebounds and 10 assists, and in addition to that she had nine points, four steals and two blocks.
Maria Lyde followed with a coast-to-coast layup and a floater in the paint as Greeneville’s lead grew to 53-37 with 3:33 left in the third quarter.
Lyde was a force inside all night long despite drawing swats and hacks from the Lady Hurricanes every time she went up for a shot. She finished the day with 18 points and seven rebounds.
“We have been working with Maria, and we have told her for a couple of years that when Abby (Adkins) leaves people are going to beat on her and foul her,” Watts said. “We’ve told her that she can’t show her frustration, and today she took a beating, but she played through it and played well.”
With 1:19 left in the third quarter Woolsey swiped possession and sent a long pass ahead to Tullock for a breakaway layup that pushed the lead to 60-42.
The fourth-quarter started with Greeneville leading 60-44.
“We knew we could build that lead again. We did it once already. Our defense had to be solid, and we had to break that press,” Watts said.
The Lady Greene Devils’ lead grew to 20 points at 64-44 when Lyde powered one in from the block.
Much of the remainder of the fourth quarter was played at free-throw line, but unlike in the first half Greeneville did not let Morristown East dig out of its hole. Tullock added four more points as part of her game-high 22 points and Greeneville cruised to a 72-52 win.
Friday’s action started with Greeneville screaming out of the gate and jumping in front 14-0 less than three minutes into the contest. The Lady Devils moved the ball, ran the floor in transition and took advantage of turnovers as they blitzed the Lady Hurricanes on their own floor.
Jordan Swatzell knocked down two three-pointers in the opening run, and Lyde capped it by putting back an offensive rebound.
Two free throws from Kennady Phillips broke the streak, but after Tullock slashed through the lane twice Greeneville’s lead grew to 20-2.
Morristown East got triples from Mollie Stuffle and Kimberly Jimenez but Greeneville closed the quarter with a 25-8 lead.
The second quarter played out almost in the opposite fashion from the first as the Lady Hurricanes started forcing turnovers and filling up the bucket.
With 4:46 left in first half Stuffle turned a steal by Hannah Hall into a lay in that closed the gap to 27-20.
A steal by Phillips turned into two free throws from Stuffle as the margin narrowed to 27-24.
Woolsey was able to briefly stem the tide with a triple on an inbound play, but with 30 seconds left in the half Hall hit from deep to knot things at 32-32.
Hayes was able to connect from behind the arc with nine seconds on the clock to give Greeneville a 35-32 lead at halftime.
Swatzell was also in double figures for Greeneville with 11 points.
Stuffle scored 16 points for Morristown East and Phillips put in 12 points.
Greeneville weathered the storm and defeated the Hurricanes of Morristown East 72-52 on Friday night. We caught up with Lady Devils Head Coach Annette Watts and senior Brylee Tullock (@bryleetullock) after a tough win for Greeneville. pic.twitter.com/8Z1hoQ58NO
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 6, 2025
