The Greeneville girls basketball team was firing on all cylinders on Saturday night as it blew past North Hardin, Kentucky 72-44 in its first game of the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic.
“It seems like the first game in a tournament environment is always the hardest for this group. So, I was a little concerned coming in, but we battled through that against a very athletic team. I was glad we were hitting shots and playing defense. We survived some foul trouble, and we pulled through.”
The Lady Greene Devils move on in the winners’ bracket of the tournament and will see a familiar foe in Bearden on Monday in the quarterfinals. The Lady Devils started the season with a 72-55 loss to Bearden, and Monday will be a good chance to see how much they have grown in the last month.
Saturday’s first quarter was not particularly well played with the two unfamiliar foes trying to figure each other out. There were plenty of turnovers and missed shots, but Greeneville’s tough defense held North Hardin scoreless for over five minutes. The problem was they only scored four points themselves in that stretch.
An old-fashioned-three-point play by Julia Woolsey did give Greeneville the first advantage at 7-2 with 2:16 left in the period. North Hardin then got going with long shots from Jackie Brewer and Alanah Dubose to take a 10-7 lead.
The Lady Trojans went to the second quarter leading 12-9.
On the first possession of the second quarter Jordan Swatzell took in a pass from Matea Gray and nailed her first of six three-pointers to even things at 12-12.
Swatzell had a huge night from beyond the arc, hitting from deep six times and pouring in 22 points. But her effort on the defensive end of the floor is what impressed Watts most.
“When she is shooting like that it opens everything else up,” Watts said. “Most teams are going to focus on Maria (Lyde), Julia and Brylee (Tullock), so when Jo can step in there and do that its huge. But she was also such an important defensive factor and a tough rebounder. After the knee injury last year I think she is about ready to cut loose and really go. I was really proud of her tonight.”
With 6:47 left in the first half Gray landed a jumper from the short corner and Greeneville led the rest of the contest.
Brylee Tullock went coast-to-coast twice for a pair of layups, and Woolsey took in a pass from Gray to break the press with another transition bucket that put Greeneville in front 23-19.
Good ball rotation set up Swatzell for an open triple from the left wing, and then on an inbound play Woolsey powered in a layup before turning it into three points the hard way.
After falling behind early Greeneville took a 31-23 lead into halftime.
“We just had to start making shots,” Watts said. “We made our first layup, but then we missed bunnies and easy shots. We saw that they were going to be physical, and the referees were going to let us be physical. It took us a minute to get going, but I thought Julia did a good job of getting us going and being that leader on the floor.”
The second half started with North Hardin’s Asia Charles and Greeneville’s Swatzell trading triples before a short jumper in the paint by Woolsey put the Lady Greene Devils in front 39-26.
A step-back trey by Tullock stretched Greeneville’s lead to 48-29, and just before the buzzer the Lady Devils set up Tullock for another three-pointer that set the margin at 55-36.
The fourth quarter started with Swatzell firing from deep and then Gray sinking a jumper from the top of the key as the advantage grew to 60-36 in 44 seconds.
The rest was just a formality as Greeneville cruised to a 72-44 win.
In addition to 22 points from Swatzell Greeneville got 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Tullock and 19 points, five rebounds and five assists from Woolsey. Maria Lyde had eight points and seven rebounds despite sitting for almost all of the second quarter with two fouls.
For North Hardin Asia Charles scored 12 points.
North Hardin will take on Coalfield on Monday.
