BLOUNTVILLE – Greeneville fell behind early and couldn’t make up for lost ground On Tuesday night as it was sent back to Greene County with a 66-49 loss courtesy of West Ridge.
“They’ve got a weapon at every spot and you’ve got to be able to guard every spot and we can’t, and we’re just not ready to do that,” Greeneville Head Coach Annette Watts stated.
West Ridge locked them down defensively in the second half and forced turnovers and rushed shot attempts with their full-court press defense that made things hard all night.
“It 100% affected us. You’ve got to have people on the floor that will come to the ball. If you’re being doubled, somebody is wide open and I could not get them to understand,” Coach Watts said.
Greeneville shot a good 42.5% from the field, but shot a low 38% (5-for-13) from the free-throw line. West Ridge shot 46.5% from their home floor and shot 55.5% in the second half to pull away with the win.
West Ridge’s Carter Jones made the biggest impact. Her overwhelming defense and 27 points to lead all scorers were a huge reason why the Lady Wolves were so successful.
Allison Hayes was a huge spark off the bench for Greeneville and scored 10-straight to pull them within one point in the second quarter after trailing by as much as 14 points.
“We would’ve been blown out if it hadn’t been for her,” Coach Watts explained.
Brylee Tullock was held in check for the majority of the night, but still managed to score a team-high 13 points.
West Ridge went on the attack immediately and sank a corner three right off the rip from Teagan Tipton. Avery Steadman drained a three-pointer next as they led 6-2.
Maria Lyde managed to give Greeneville a brief lead at 10-9 with an and-one. The lead switched hands quickly after as Zy’Keiya Herring pointed out Greeneville’s weakness with a second-chance layup after surrendering an offensive rebound.
The Lady Devils gave up too many offensive boards and were hurt by second chance points and points off turnovers. The zone defense that Greeneville resorted to gave West Ridge the opportunity to crash the boards and many players were left untouched without a box out.
“It’s hard to box out of a zone and we can’t work against a zone a whole lot,” Coach Watts said.
West Ridge finished the first quarter on a 9-0 run and led 22-12 after the first quarter.
Jones scored six-straight from the first and second quarters to bump their lead up to 14 points. Tullock scored four-straight with a layup and two free throws.
Adyson Roberts’ layup made it 28-16 before Hayes stepped off the bench and gave Greeneville the spark they needed. Her pair of three-pointers, floater, and reverse layup combo made for a 10-point run that saw Greeneville cut their deficit to only 28-26.
Greeneville went into the half feeling better to only be trailing 30-26 at the break.
West Ridge was quick to make an impact in the third quarter. Greeneville scored first with Tullock’s two-pointer, but a 12-5 run saw the margin balloon to nine points midway through the quarter. Jones scored seven in the quarter while Millie Shelton and Avery Steadman scored a three-pointer each.
Greeneville trailed 45-37 going into the fourth quarter.
If you thought West Ridge made an impact to start the third quarter, Carter Jones made that impact look weak by starting the fourth with six-straight points to immediately grow the lead to 51-37.
Matea Gray scored for Greeneville to end an 8-2 West Ridge run, but the snowball effect was certainly in effect. Teagan Tipton scored four-straight after Julia Woolsey’s layup to grow the lead to 16. The Lady Devils cut the deficit back to 12, but West Ridge simply could not miss.
The Lady Wolves shot 9-for-11, including a 9-for-9 start, in the final quarter.
Greeneville couldn’t catch up and the deficit was too large to overcome as West Ridge was the victor, 66-49, on Tuesday night.
Tullock led Greeneville with 13 points and Hayes scored 12 off the bench.
Jones led all scorers with 27 and Avery Steadman had 12.
Greeneville will participate in the 29th Annual Doc Maples Holiday Hoops Tournament at Viking Hall on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They open up on Thursday at 4:00 with Science Hill.
“This is the time you have fun in these tournaments. You’re setting yourself up in front of great crowds and you have the opportunity to go as hard as you can go and do the things that you can do,” Coach Watts expressed.
