The Greeneville girls may have turned in their best performance of the year on Tuesday night as they took down Alcoa 60-57.
“We brought more energy tonight than we have in a long time, and it was rewarded,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “That is a really good team, and this is a really good win for us. I’m so proud of us. I’m proud of us defensively and I’m proud of us offensively.”
The Lady Greene Devils found offense that worked and stuck with it as they continually found cutters going downhill and hit them for layups. Then when it mattered most the defense stiffened up late to preserve the win.
Maria Lyde led Greeneville with 20 points and seven rebounds. Brylee Tullock had 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Julia Woolsey scored 13 points.
“We knew from watching them here in the Ladies Classic that we they couldn’t guard a few of us going downhill,” Watts said. “Maria was a big part of that. We kept running that flex and worked all night.”
Watts is hopeful that Tuesday’s win gives her team a confidence boost ahead of another tough matchup on Friday with Dobyns-Bennett and before District 2-3A play starts next week.
“It’s huge to get this win before we get into what we are getting ready to get into. That starts with a big one on Friday at Dobyns-Bennett,” Watts said.
Greeneville’s offense was clicking early as they put up 25 points in the first quarter.
Alcoa did find the first advantage at 6-2 when Brylee Flatt laid one off the glass. Greeneville responded with five straight points from Lyde. Tullock found her slicing down the right side of the lane before Woolsey hit her coming down the left side.
With 3:16 left in the opening period Greeneville took the lead for the remainder of the first half. Alcoa coach David Bauman was assessed a technical foul and Woolsey made both free throws for a 10-8 lead.
Greeneville’s lead reached 16-10 when Matea Gray got ahead of the Lady Tornadoes in transition.
In the final minute of the period Lyde scored three points the hard way and Tullock knocked down a pair of shots from beyond the arc to stretch Greeneville’s lead to 25-16.
In the second quarter Alcoa’s Kadie Bremer scored inside to close the gap to 28-23, but Greeneville got going again with four points from Jordan Swatzell. Tullock then made two free throws to give Greeneville’s its biggest lead of the first half at 34-23.
Alcoa finished the first half on a 12-2 run to narrow the margin to 36-35 at the break. Harper Stinnett and Flatt each hit from deep in the run.
Alcoa’s Halle Bailey got the second half started with a steal in the backcourt that turned into a layup and 37-36 Lady Tornadoes’ lead.
Undeterred Greeneville went on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes. Lyde and Woolsey each scored on those downhill cuts that doomed the Lady Tornadoes all night. Gray drained a jumper from the elbow, and with 3:14 left in the quarter Lyde made one charity toss to push the lead to 49-39.
Alcoa closed the gap again and at the buzzer Bremer sank a straight-away trey to pull the Lady Tornadoes to within five points at 51-46.
In the fourth quarter Greeneville’s lead reached 56-48 when Woolsey sent a pass ahead to Gray from a breakaway layup.
After that the Lady Tornadoes began to close down the lane and send extra defenders at Lyde when she got the ball. With that they began to chip away at the lead.
With 2:05 left to play a defensive switch found Gray, the smallest player on the floor, guarding Maddy Stewart, the largest player on the floor, in the paint. The Lady Tornadoes recognized the mismatch and cut Greeneville’s led to 58-55.
Even though Greeneville was not scoring at the same pace late its tough defense held Alcoa to just four points in the final 4:41.
“That defense was huge, and tomorrow on film I’m going to show them how tough they can be. They were talking and switching, and they were doing those things we need to be doing every game,” Watts said.
With 1:07 left Alcoa cut the lead to 58-57 when Ronique Garner drove the lane for a layup.
Going the other way Tullock was knocked out of the air on a layup, but the contact elicited no whistle. Still the Lady Devils kept up the pressure on defense and forced Alcoa to throw it away on what could have been the go-ahead possession.
With 15 seconds left Woolsey made one free throw, and then Lyde’s pressure on the inbound pass forced a five-second call. Lyde followed with one more free throw for a three-point advantage. She had one more big defensive stop left, and when Bremer tried to launch the tying triple Lyde batted it the other way.
Bremer and Flatt each scored 14 points for Alcoa.
Prior to Tuesday’s game Lyde, a junior, was recognized for scoring her 1,000th career point and grabbing her 500th career rebound earlier this season.
