JONESBOROUGH – South Greene’s poor shooting, foul trouble, and costly turnovers proved to be a bad mix as the Lady Rebels let a close game slip away in a 62-59 loss to David Crockett on Tuesday night.
“It was very frustrating. I thought this was a game we could come in and possibly win tonight,” South Greene Head Coach Stephen Gregg said.
South Greene held a four-point lead at the half, but Crockett’s 41-point second half mixed with a low shooting percentage and multiple starters going to the bench with fouls or injuries handicapped the Lady Rebels.
South Greene turned the ball over 19 times and shot a low 31% from the field with 26 total fouls. Senior starters Kortnei Bailey and Paisley Brobeck left with five fouls in the fourth quarter and Ari Hoese left with a possible injury. A pair of heroic efforts from Reagan Arrowood and Madison Fillers willed them back from an 8-point deficit with a few minutes left, but Crockett survived in the end.
“We had 19 turnovers which is not terrible. We had one more than them for the game. But when you think about it you’re playing against a zone, so 19 is way too many. Bad shooting night. We’ve got girls undisciplined getting in foul trouble. We shot 44 threes for the game and went 13-for-44. They shot 48 shots for the whole game. So, if we’re going to shoot them, we need to make them,” Coach Gregg expressed.
Brobeck began the game with a strong and-one layup to strike first and lead 3-0. Bailey drained a three-point shot to take the lead back at 6-5. Crockett’s Kayleah Doner delivered her third assist of the quarter to give the Lady Pioneers a 7-6 lead with Hannah Ward’s layup.
Brobeck fired an assist to Hoese for a three-pointer to tie the score at 9-9. Jaidyn Howard’s layup with under a minute left broke the tie and gave Crockett an 11-9 lead after one quarter.
Hoese began the second quarter with five-straight points and regained the lead, 14-13. Doner drove in for a layup and snatched the lead back for a brief moment before Nevaeh Davis stripped the nets with a three-point bomb to give South Greene an 18-15 advantage.
South Greene’s biggest lead grew to five when Reagan Arrowood made her first of four three-point baskets. Crockett pulled within one off Autum Wynn’s layup and Doner’s pair of free throws. Arrowood made another three before the half ended to send the Lady Rebels into the break with a 25-21 lead.
“I felt like we had an opportunity to extend it a little bit more than what it was. We missed an opportunity to step on their throats. Should’ve been up more at half and we weren’t and came out flat,” Coach Gregg mentioned.
The lead quickly vanished once the third quarter started. Wynn made back-to-back layups to tie it at 25-25. Bailey pushed through contact for a layup off the glass, but it would be the last lead South Greene would hold.
Doner downed a long-range triple to give Crockett a lead that lasted until the end. Ella Monin scored from outside the perimeter next, but Reagan Arrowood responded right back with a three of her own.
Crockett’s Doner scored seven of their final nine in the third quarter and helped the Lady Pioneers hold a 42-36 lead going into the fourth. Hoese and Bailey both scored from the three-point line for South Greene in the later stages of the third.
Doner kept the hot hand and started the fourth with a layup to go up by eight. Samantha Birdwell cut into the lead with a long two-point bucket and Davis trimmed the deficit to four with a triple. Down 46-42 Brobeck fouled out before the halfway point of the fourth. Trinity Barner stepped in as her replacement and stole the ball away and assisted Arrowood for a long two-point basket.
Bailey was the next player to foul out with 4:23 left in the matchup.
Crockett’s Ella Monin did it all on both sides of the ball and grabbed a big rebound that turned into three points with an assist to Rheagan Haney for an and-one.
Arrowood’s fourth and final three of the game cut it to 52-47. Birdwell scored a layup underneath to then cut it to 53-49. Madison Fillers hadn’t played a minute until the fourth quarter but had to step in when the numbers became thin. She made the most of her time on the floor and nailed a three to cut the deficit to only one. Haney scored a three in response, but Fillers came right back with another triple to keep it a one-point game.
The late game fouling would begin and South Greene could not seem to catch back up. Crockett went 6-for-8 down the stretch and even rebounded one of those rare misses that turned into two more points.
Although the ball never seemed to roll South Greene’s way in the second half, they still had a shot to tie the game at the buzzer. Arrowood had drained four three-point shots up to this point and she was the right person to get the ball, but the shot was off the mark.
South Greene dropped a tough one on the road to Crockett, 62-59.
“We need to do a better job at controlling key areas. Limiting our turnovers, being more self disciplined, and winning the rebounding edge,” Gregg stated.
Arrowood scored a game-high 15 points and Hoese had 11 to lead the Lady Rebels. Crockett’s Doner scored a game-high 24 points.
South Greene heads to Grainger on Friday for their next contest.
