The South Greene girls could not keep up with Cocke County on Saturday night, but coach Stepehen Gregg still saw some growth from his squad in a 64-43 loss to a team that advanced to the Class 3A state semifinals a year ago.
“I feel like we’re getting better. We achieved some in-game goals, we outrebounded a very physical Cocke County team. That’s the third game in a row we won the rebounding battle. We did some things that are going to help us when we get back in conference play,” Gregg said. “These games will make us better come tournament time. I hate to lose, but I can accept it if we are playing hard. We have to keep playing hard, and I think you see we are better than we were a month ago.”
The Lady Red started the game throwing their high-pressure defense at South Greene, and early on it led to 12 first-quarter turnovers and a 7-0 lead. In that stretch steals by Brookelyn Clevenger and Blakelyn Clevenger led to a pair of transition layups for Karmine Carmichael.
Carmichael, one of the areas most talented post players, scored just two more points the rest of the night and was limited to just one rebound. That defensive effort from the Lady Rebels was led by Alexa Gabbard with plenty of help from the supporting cast.
Ari Hoese got South Greene’s scoring started with a three-pointer 3:32 into the contest. Kortnei Bailey closed the gap to 7-5 when Natilie Foshie sent a pass ahead to her for a transition layup.
Cocke County’s defense continued to be tough to beat and on offense Abby Neithammer put in a pair of buckets to extend the lead to 14-7 at the close of the first quarter.
With 6:32 left in the second quarter Foshie sank a jumper from the short corner to close the gap to 16-11, but South Greene never got any closer.
After Brookelyn and Blakelyn Clevenger each landed a triple the Lady Red held a 24-11 advantage.
As time expired Ellie Proffitt scored on an inbound play to give Cocke County a 26-13 halftime lead.
In the second half South Greene’s offensive production picked up and it limited the turnovers to just four in the final two periods. But on the other end of the floor Cocke County’s shooters got warmed up.
“The biggest thing we had to do was handle their pressure better. We had 12 turnovers in the first quarter and 18 at half time. In the second half we played cleaner. This might be a different ball game if we don’t start with 12 turnovers,” Gregg said.
The Lady Red knocked down four three-pointers in the first four minutes of the third quarter to stretch the lead to 40-19. On the other end of the floor Ari Hoese came up with a pair of driving layups and scored five points for South Greene.
The final four minutes of the third quarter were largely played at the free-throw line with Cocke County making four trips to the stripe and South Greene visiting six times. In that stretch Bailey scored nine points for South Greene with four coming on free tosses.
The quarter closed with Cocke County leading 52-32.
In the fourth quarter Bailey scored four more points for South Greene as part of her game-high 22-point night, but the Lady Rebels could not put a dent in the lead.
Hoese was also in double figures for South Greene with 13 points.
For Cocke County Brookelyn Clevenger had 13 points, Ava Wheeler and Blakelyn Clevenger each had 12 points and Niethammer scored 11.
