A big run in the third quarter made all the difference for the Greeneville girls on Saturday afternoon as they were able to build a 20-point lead and hold on for a 60-54 win over Riverside, South Carolina at the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic.
“We were able to hold on, and that is big for this group to figure out how to hold off a team that is coming at you that hard,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “They got up in our face and applied pressure, and we had to respond to that. We had to learn we can’t get soft; 20 points is not a big enough lead. We had to decide to be the toughest team. It came down to boxing out and getting stops at the end.”
Greeneville went into the second half leading 30-24, but in just over a minute that margin was down to one point at 30-29 when Marley Mangum drove to the rim for Riverside.
What followed was a 19-0 run from Greeneville that ultimately decided the game. Things started with Kyla Jobe dishing to Alison Hayes along left wing for a three-pointer. Hayes nailed a trio of triples in the run and came up with a menacing block on the defensive end. Matea Gray turned a pair of turnovers into breakaway layups before Jobe capped the run with an elbow jumper that gave Greeneville a 49-29 lead.
“Little Hayes came in and gave us a nice lift with those threes, and I think we all started penetrating the defense and kicking it out,” Watts said. “I tell them that I will let everybody shoot, and if you’re open you better pull the trigger. Alison listened to me and kind of stole the show there. I was really proud of her and I hope that does a lot for her confidence.”
Over the final 1:40 of the third quarter the Lady Warriors went on a 7-0 run behind five points from Elly Trickett and closed the gap to 49-36.
Trickett scored five more points to get the fourth quarter started, and when Maddie Bache sank a jumper from the short corner Riverside closed the gap to 50-47 with 4:33 left to play.
From there Greeneville tightened up on defense and two big buckets from the block by Abby Adkins gave the Lady Devils a little breathing room at 55-49.
In the closing stretch Greeneville went 5-of-6 at the charity stripe to secure the win.
Adkins played a big role Saturday and finished with a double-double of 16 points and 17 rebounds. She also had three steals, and two of them came in the fourth quarter to stymie the Lady Warriors’ comeback attempt.
Saturday’s action started with the team’s trading shots, and Jobe gave Greeneville its first lead at 8-6 when she ripped a triple through the net with a hand in her face.
In a two-minute stretch Adkins and Maria Lyde each scored four points to give Greeneville a 16-9 advantage. Then as the clock was winding down Jobe used her softball skills to deliver a three-quarter-court strike to Julia Woolsey who beat the horn for an 18-12 lead heading to the second quarter.
Sophia Powell scored six points for Riverside in the early portion of the second period that was split up by a triple from Woolsey.
With 1:37 left in the first half Bache sank a mid-range jumper for the Lady Warriors to close the gap to 26-24.
Greeneville went to halftime leading 30-24 after Adkins and Jobe each scored in the final minute of the second period.
In addition to Adkins 16 points, Lyde had 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Greeneville, and Jobe also scored 11 points.
For Riverside Madison Garrido scored 19 points, Trickett had 15 and 11 rebounds, Bache had 10 points, and Powell grabbed 13 rebounds.
Greeneville moves on to play Knoxville Catholic at 3 p.m. on Monday while Riverside will play West Greene at 12 p.m. on Monday.
KNOXVILLE CATHOLIC 68, WEST GREENE 26
The West Greene girls struggled to handle Knoxville Catholic’s swarming defense on Saturday morning and fell 68-26 in the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic.
Saturday’s action started with Catholic’s Amaya Redd scoring eight points as the Lady Irish jumped out to a 10-2 lead.
Morgan Brown got West Greene’s first shot to fall with a driving layup, but after Ariana Swain beat the buzzer with a triple Catholic went to the first stoppage leading 15-4.
Catholic scored the first nine points of the second quarter with Swain hitting from deep again while Redd and Maggie Frana each took turnovers the distance for breakaway layups.
Neveah Fillers broke the Lady Irish run with a midrange jumper, but on the offensive end Catholic got three more points from Redd and a triple from Sydney English to go into halftime leading 34-9.
English kept hitting after halftime as she added two more deep shots, and when Frana hit from beyond the arc the Lady Irish’s lead grew to 45-11 midway through the third quarter.
West Greene found ways to get Joie Shiple opportunities on their end of the floor and she put in eight points in the third period. Despite that Catholic took a 50-17 lead into fourth quarter.
Catholic continued to add to its lead in the fourth quarter, holding its biggest advantage at 66-21 when Ensley Perry hit a three-pointer.
Redd ended the contest with 21 points and eight rebounds. English scored 12 points while Frana had seven points, six rebounds and five assists for Catholic.
Shipley had 12 points and nine rebounds for West Greene.
