It was a thriller in Bayless Gymnasium on Friday night!
Fans of District 1-1A basketball have grown used to nip and tuck battles between North Greene at Cloudland. Both teams split their regular season series and the combined scores was separated by only two points. The last ten matchups have been split with five wins by each team. It’s as even of a rivalry as you could find.
Friday night was no different. The game came down to the wire and every shot mattered. The Lady Huskies made shots at the most crucial times and made the biggest stop of the night when they needed it most to claim a 47-45 win over Cloudland.
“I’m happy that we won. Thrilled with the result. Very proud of the kids. I can say this, I think they played really hard. Both teams did. A lot of credit to those Cloudland kids too. Just a hard-fought game. There were kids making plays down the stretch on both sides,” Lady Huskies Head Coach James Buchanan said.
North Greene reaches its ninth-straight District 1-1A championship game with Friday’s win. The Lady Huskies haven’t won since 2022 and are looking to reclaim their place at the top in Monday night’s contest. Unaka will be their opponent in a rematch of last year’s championship. Unaka won 45-39 in last year’s game.
“We’re proud of them and we’ve got some work to do and try to get ready and prepare for tomorrow’s practice and the big game on Monday. So, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and we’ve got to make some adjustments and I’m sure they are as well,” Buchanan mentioned.
The Lady Huskies added key pieces to their roster over the summer and introduced new players into the system. One player who many weren’t familiar with coming into the year was Eva Leonard. The sophomore transfer from Daniel Boone made her biggest impact Friday night with a team-leading 12 points and the go-ahead triple with nine seconds remaining to crush Cloudland’s spirits.
“I’m tickled for Eva. She made a big shot for us there at the end,” Buchanan bragged. “That was a big shot and I’m glad she was able to knock it down.”
The Lady Huskies were also led by Tralyn Southerland with 12 points. Southerland’s night did not go as planned as she quickly picked up two fouls to start the second half and sat for the next 10 minutes and 11 seconds of game time. Her contributions late in the game paid dividends with clutch defense and four huge points.
North Greene improved to 25-5 with the win.
The game started exactly how North Greene would have wanted. Cloudland scored first, but North Greene went on a 9-0 run to hold a 9-2 lead in the first. That exact 7-point margin would be the largest lead either team gained all game. North Greene led 13-8 after the first quarter.
As soon as the second quarter started, here came the Lady Landers. Cloudland went on a 6-0 run and grabbed the lead, 14-13. The lead swapped hands briefly again with Natalie Foshie’s free throws, but Jadyn Whitley nailed a three and gave Cloudland a 17-15 advantage. Foshie tied it 19-19 with a layup and Makinna Shell snatched the lead back with a basket next.
The Lady Highlanders held a 25-23 lead going into halftime.
The first and second quarters showed more offense than people are used to in a Cloudland/North Greene game. But the third quarter changed that.
Each team only scored six points in the third in a low-scoring period. Tralyn Southerland scored a layup on North Greene’s first possession, but her night quickly got worse. Southerland picked up her third and fourth fouls in under two minutes and left the game with 6:02 left in the third.
North Greene managed to stay afloat without her and trailed 31-29 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was when the fireworks started. Ella Head had been silent all game, but opened the fourth with a layup to tie it. Josie Graham helped North Greene achieve their first lead of the quarter with a layup underneath. The ball was poked away at half court and Eva Leonard was in the right place to grab it and take it to the rack for two. Head went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line and gave North Greene a 36-32 lead.
Tralyn Southerland entered the game again with 3:51 left. Cloudland quickly started chipping away and Friday night’s fun began. Makinna Shell made a short floater and Jayla Harper tied it 36-36 with 2:49 left. Southerland went 2-for-2 from the line and made it 38-36 with 2:36 remaining. Harper netted a big three-point bucket for Cloudland and helped them lead 39-38 with 2:17 left. Shell landed a shot in the paint and bumped it to 41-38 with under two minutes left. Leonard went 2-for-2 at the line next and brought North Greene within one with 1:49 left.
The final two minutes became a chess match between both coaches who saved all of their timeouts until the end.
Graham made a layup on North Greene’s third shot attempt of the possession and helped them regain a 42-41 lead with 1:14 left. Coach Buchanan called a timeout. Abby Clawson secured an immediate layup after the timeout and Cloudland once again led 43-42 with 1:03 left. Coach Birchfield called a timeout next. Southerland made a layup, but Reagan Blair responded with a layup on the other end and Cloudland led 45-44 with 30.2 seconds remaining. Coach Birchfield called another timeout.
North Greene aimed to feed the ball to Southerland inside for the go-ahead bucket, but Clawson blocked her shot and the fight for the rebound went out of bounds with 17.2 seconds left. Coach Buchanan called yet another timeout.
The Lady Huskies kept possession of the ball and had one last attempt to make something happen while trailing 45-44. Eva Leonard inbounded the ball to Southerland and Southerland fired it to Leonard on the three-point line and the sophomore guard sent a dagger swishing through the net for a 47-45 lead with 9.2 seconds left.
Yet another timeout was taken by Buchanan.
North Greene needed one last stop to win the game. Cloudland inbounded the ball and raced up court with enough time to get off a clean look before the buzzer sounded, but the attempt was short and no good.
North Greene survived and outlasted Cloudland, 47-45, in a barnburner in the District 1-1A semifinals.
Leonard led North Greene with the game-winning bucket and 12 points. Tralyn Southerland joined her with 12. Cloudland was led by Makinna Shell with 14. Abby Clawson entered double figures with 12.
North Greene will play Unaka in Monday’s District 1-1A Championship at 7:30. Cloudland will play Hampton in the consolation at 6:00.
