Lady Devils Start Hot, Finish Cold In 56-53 Loss To Science Hill

BRISTOL – The Greeneville girls started red hot on Thursday afternoon, but quickly faded and fell to Science Hill 56-53 in the Doc Maples Classis at Tennessee High.

Greeneville led by as many as 16 points in the first half, but struggled to find buckets late in the game and fell to same team it beat by 16 points two weeks ago.

“The wheels came off and I didn’t have a leader on the floor,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “Somebody on the floor has to be the leader, a coach can’t do that. I’m very disappointed. We beat them at their place two weeks ago and we didn’t show up tonight.”

Greeneville came out of the gate hot on Thursday and poured in 23 points in the first quarter. That started with winning the opening tip and Brylee Tullock needing just five seconds to tap a layup off the glass.

Tullock scored 11 points in the first 3:16 of the contest, twice helped by Matea Gray who stole the ball at the top of the formation.

Maria Lyde followed with a pair of jump shots from the paint to stretch the advantage to 19-8 with 2:30 left in the first quarter.

After Tullock and Lyde each went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe the Lady Devils took a 23-13 lead into the second period. Science Hill did most of its damage from beyond the arc with Allie Conner, Clara Crow and Khloe Sommers all sinking corner threes.

Greeneville started the second quarter on an 8-2 run and stretched its lead to 31-15 with 4:41 left in the first half. Lyde started things with another mid-range jumper, Gray scored on a steal under the rim and Allison Hayes capped the run with a transition layup.

Greeneville only scored two more points the rest of the period, a short jumper by Hayes set up by Tullock.

The Lady Hill Toppers scored the final nine points of the first half. Sommers, Crowe and Annabelle Eans all had three points to close the gap to 33-28 at the break.

“We came out so strong and I don’t know what changed,” Watts said. “We talked about it at halftime because the first and second quarters were almost reversed. We had seven turnovers in the second quarter, and we forced seven in the first quarter. We were grabbing rebounds in the first quarter, then something just changed.”

With 4:48 left in the third quarter Crowe nailed a triple for Science Hill to close the gap to 36-34.

Greeneville pulled away one more time. Hayes got loose in transition, Gray put in a jumper from the block and Lyde sank two free throws for a 45-36 lead.

On the final play of the third quarter Crowe took in an inbound pass and nailed a jump shot from the lane to close the gap to 46-43.

Greeneville’s offense slowed even more in the fourth quarter as it struggled to find space inside, and could not knock anything down from the outside.

With 2:48 left to play Science Hill took its first lead since the first minute of the first quarter. After Serenity Phillips came up with a steal Crowe launched a three from the left wing that put the Lady Toppers on top 51-49.

Tullock tied the game at 51-51 going the other way when a runner from the right side of the lane through traffic. She tied it again at 53-53 with a floater, but Sommers drew contact with 34 seconds left and made two free throws to give the Science Hill a 55-53 lead.

Julia Woolsey tried to answer with a triple for the Lady Devils, but it was off the mark.  Greeneville never got another shot off and it fell 56-53.

Tullock finished the night with 23 points and 12 rebounds for Greeneville. Lyde had 15 points and eight boards. Lyde also surpassed 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds on Thursday.

For Science Hill Crowe scored 23 points and Sommers had 14 points.

Greeneville will be back in action in Bristol at 3 p.m. on Friday against Abingdon, Virginia.