The Greeneville girls basketball team dug deep on Friday night and made the plays late that turned the outcome in their favor as they improved to 3-0 in District 2-3A action.
The Lady Greene Devils trailed for most of the night, but they swung the momentum in the fourth quarter before sealing things in the final seconds for a 63-59 win over Cherokee.
“It took us a long time to get into our groove, but once we got into it things started going our way,” Greeneville coach Annette Watts said. “We have things to work on, and we will work on them, but right now we are 3-0 in the league. I hope that gives us confidence going into the second half of this district schedule.”
Greeneville took its first lead of the second half with 6:35 left to play when Maria Lyde smoothly lofted in a floater from the paint.
The Lady Devils biggest lead came at 53-48 after Julia Woolsey came up with a pair of buckets in a 13-second span. The second was set up Brylee Tullock who took the ball away from the Lady Chiefs before they could even reach the midcourt stripe.
Cherokee with its bevy of three-point shooters was not going to go away quietly and with 1:15 left Kenady Deal came off a block set by Addie Lawson and knocked down a triple that even the score at 56-56.
With 36 seconds on the clock Lawson hit from deep to put Cherokee in front at 59-58, but the Lady Devils did not blink.
As they had done throughout the second half Tullock delivered to Lyde and she went into traffic and elevated over the Lady Chiefs to rattle home the go-ahead bucket with 24 seconds on the clock.
Tullock then took the ball away from the Lady Chiefs under Greeneville’s hoop and was fouled with 14 seconds left. She made both free throws to give Greeneville a three-point advantage.
Cherokee never got off a tying attempt as Lyde stood up Rylee Sivert on the perimeter with a trap and forced a panicked pass that finished in the hands of Greeneville’s Allison Hayes.
“I told Julia, Maria, Brylee to go win this game. Those three can do that. The others can be great role players, but those three had to take over at the end. And they did,” Watts said. “We survived falling behind, and it was just about getting two at time to come back.”
The Lady Greene Devils got some impressive individual performances, and Lyde led that effort with 28 points and seven rebounds. Tullock earned her third triple-double of the season with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Woolsey had 16 points, and 12 rebounds. In addition to that Matea Gray was a defensive force and made one of the region’s best shooters in Deal work for every single she took.
“Brylee Tullock was just great with those steals and assists,” Watts said. “I bet 20 of Maria’s points were off assists from Brylee. I can’t say enough about Matea Gray and her defense. These girls played really well at the end.”
Early in Friday’s action Greeneville struggled to get shots to fall, even when it found good looks inside and found itself in an early 9-4 hole. But late in the first quarter the Lady Devils began to take advantage of Cherokee chasing with its hands on defense to get to the free-throw line. Over the final 2:48 of the first quarter Tullock made five free throws and Lyde sank two to put Greeneville in front 11-9.
On the night Greeneville was able to get into the paint and too often the Lady Chiefs used their hands instead of their feet to play defense. That led to Greeneville converting on 20-of-26 free throw. Conversely the Lady Chiefs, who played more on the perimeter went 7-of-8 at the stripe.
In the second quarter Greeneville’s struggles to make field goals continued while Cherokee warmed up from behind the arc. The Lady Chiefs took the lead at 12-11 when Sivert hit from deep a minute into the second frame. She knocked down two more triples as Cherokee went in front 21-15 with 5:10 left in the first half.
Lyde closed out the half with five points, but Cherokee went to intermission leading 26-20.
In the third quarter Greeneville experienced a turnaround on offense with shots that were clanging off the iron were suddenly rolling through the net. But much of the period was spent trading shots with the Lady Chiefs.
Cherokee took its biggest lead at 37-29 when Lawson knocked down a triple in transition.
Led by Lyde Greeneville began to chip away at that lead as she scored nine points over the final 3:18 of the quarter. Woolsey finished the frame with a pair of free throws and heading into the fourth quarter Cherokee’s lead was down to 44-42.
Sivert led Cherokee on Friday with 24 points. Deal scored 17 and Lawson 14.
