Hot Shooting Unaka Tops North Greene In District Title Game

BLOUNTVILLE – The North Greene girls could not keep up with a hot-shooting Unaka squad on Monday night and fell 45-39 in the District 1-1A championship game at West Ridge High School.

The Lady Rangers knocked down 13 three-pointers on Monday with 39 of their 45 points coming from beyond the arc. Unaka shot 52 percent from three-point land compared to the Lady Huskies’ 18 percent from long range, and that proved to be difference in the outcome.

“We had a hard time defending the three-point shot,” North Greene coach James Buchanan said. “Part of that is because they have a couple of players that demand a lot of attention and help. It’s hard to help and contest a shooter at the same time. I thought we played hard, I can’t fault the effort, but it felt like they put us in a bind from the tip. We didn’t shoot the ball particularly, and that was the difference. We might have won the turnover battle, rebounds were pretty even, but they shot it better.”

The loss ends a 16-game win-streak for the Lady Huskies that started on January 3. They are still moving on to the Region 1-1A Tournament and will be back in action at home on Friday against Hancock County.

“We have a chance to correct this and can still do what we want to do, but we have to win two games to get back to where we want to be,” Buchanan said. “Now that its over we can talk about it, but we won 16 in row, and sometimes when you make mistakes in a win they don’t stick with you as much. When you are playing against good competition, and they make you pay for those mistakes, it can be a great teacher if you let it. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and maybe get another crack at it down the road.”

It took over four minutes for Unaka to beat North Greene’s tough defense on Monday, and a triple by Kalli Shepard gave the Lady Rangers their first lead at 3-2 with 3:36 left in the opening period. North Greene regained the lead twice and with 14 seconds left in the period a putback by Ella Head evened the score at 9-9.

At the buzzer Michelle Shields drove the lane and landed a finger roll that put the Lady Rangers in front 11-9.

North Greene tied the game again when Mercy Buchanan fed Hannah Miller on the block for a layup. With 6:39 left Unaka’s Katlyn Dugger was dinged for an intentional foul and Buchanan made one at the foul line for the Lady Huskies final lead of the night at 12-11.

Brooklyn Campbell followed with a pair of triples and Lauren Lund hit from beyond the arc to put Unaka in front 22-16.

The Lady Huskies moved the ball around to set up the last shot and with two seconds left Kaydence Marshall knocked a triple from the left wing to close the gap to 22-19.

In the third quarter Unaka’s hot hand continued from beyond the arc as it knocked down five three-pointers. North Greene tried to answer by going to the paint and Miller scored six points, but after drawing contact inside the Lady Huskies went 1-for-6 at the free throw line.

Over the final minute of the quarter Shields and Campbell each hit from deep and Unaka took a 37-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter North Greene turned up the pressure on the defensive end of the floor and was able to frustrate the Lady Rangers, but it struggled to capitalize on the turnovers they forced. Miller scored six more points in the period and Head cut the lead down to 42-37 with 2:39 left to play when she slashed through the lane.

Shields got Unaka going again with a triple from beyond the elbow to effectively put the game out of reach.

Monday’s win gave Unaka its first district championship since 2005.

Shields led all scorers on Monday with 18 points and was named the District 1-1A Tournament MVP. Campbell scored 12 points.

For North Greene Miller had 17 points and eight rebounds while Head scored 12 points.