ROGERSVILLE – The West Greene Lady Buffaloes led wire-to-wire in a dominant victory over University High on Thursday night to claim a win to begin their participation in the Big H BBQ Christmas Bash.
“It feels good to get started off with a win,” West Greene Head Coach Betsy Shaw said.
The Lady Buffs had no trouble in Thursday’s win. They jumped out to a 12-0 lead at the end of one quarter and led by 18 before University could get anything to fall. The lead grew more and more as the game went on. Everybody got involved as every player on West Greene’s varsity roster scored in a true total team effort.
“That’s great because we have everybody working really hard in practice so it’s good that they got to come out here and score,” Shaw mentioned.
Everybody may have scored, but their anchor in the post Joie Shipley led all scorers with 18 points. West Greene improved to 5-6 with the win.
Shipley went right to work and scored the first basket of the game and helped kickstart West Greene’s huge run to begin the game. Sarah Justis scored the next two followed by Payton Norton. Norton sank a three-pointer and Shipley scored a second-chance layup to end the first quarter leading 12-0.
Madison Wagner began the second quarter with a layup and Erica Davis added one later to create an 18-point advantage. University got their first points via a free throw. Neveah Fillers scored her two shortly after. University managed to play competitively with West Greene in the last few minutes of the second. The Lady Buffs still led 29-11 at the half.
They kept pouring it on in the fourth. Emily Justis sank a pull-up jumper in transition and Joie Shipley scored on a blow by layup. Emily Justis sank a stop-and-pop three in transition and her sister Sarah Justis followed with a layup. Katelyn Begines ended the quarter with a layup. The Lady Buffs led 42-21 after three.
If the game wasn’t already out of reach, Shipley made sure to keep the lead untouchable. She scored West Greene’s first six of the fourth. All of those six were in the paint. “The lanes were open, that’s all I can say,” Shipley explained. Nevaeh Rowe and LeAnn Tunnell each sank a three-pointer late in the fourth.
West Greene left the hardwood with a 60-29 win to advance to today’s semifinal round with South Greene at 7:00.
“It really lifts us up. We’ve been having a rough year so far and this game has really brought us up when it comes to motivation,” Shipley said.
West Greene led from start to finish in a wire-to-wire victory over University in their first game at the Big H BBQ Christmas Bash on Thursday night. Hear from Lady Buffs Head Coach Betsy Shaw and Joie Shipley (@Zyair467496) afterwards. pic.twitter.com/hlhHDPxvQg
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 19, 2025
