The North Greene girls used a second-half surge mixed with lockdown defense to hold off Unaka for a 50-33 win on Friday night.
At many points during the first half, it seemed like the game would come down to the final possessions. North Greene fell behind at the half and trailed by five points in the third quarter, but things quickly changed. They ended the third quarter on a 13-0 run that reached 17-straight into the fourth. The game ended with North Greene outscoring Unaka 25-4 after falling behind 29-25.
“(Assistant Coach) Grace (Buchanan) pointed it out to me with about a minute left in the game. She made me look at the clipboard she keeps and showed me how many points they had at the end of the third quarter and it said 29 and the game’s almost over and I looked up and they had 31,” Lady Huskies Head Coach James Buchanan mentioned. “Just overall, I’m very pleased with how that second half played out.”
Hannah Miller’s 19-point and 11-rebound double-double led the Lady Huskies in both categories. Ella Head’s 18 points and lockdown defense was very effective in holding Unaka’s guards to less than 10 points each.
“Ella had a great game for us tonight with 18. Hannah had 19 and those were the only girls in double figures,” Buchanan said. He bragged on the rest of his lineup for their ability to stick to the game plan and carry out instructions. “You talk about sticking to a game plan and just taking what the defense gave us. I thought we did a great job with that. All seven got in and contributed.”
North Greene finished the first half of their District 1-1A schedule with a perfect 3-0 record and sits in first place. They improved their overall record to 18-3.
“Just thrilled with a win. Got to defend home court against conference if you’re going to have a chance at the regular season championship and top seed in the tournament. If you drop a home game it’s going to be really hard.”
The first quarter went in North Greene’s advantage. Unaka’s Michelle Shields struck first with a baseline floater before North Greene went on a 9-0 run. Hannah Miller put back her own miss, Ella Head flashed open for a wide-open layup underneath, and Loren Blevins splashed a three-pointer. Josie Graham grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back up before Emma Douglas ended the frame with a three.
The Lady Huskies led 9-5 after one.
A layup from Graham created a six-point advantage that Unaka slowly chipped away at. Shields nailed a short floater and Lauren Lund downed a three-pointer as part of a 7-0 Lady Ranger run to cause the lead to switch hands. Lund scored nine points, all on the three-point line, to lead Unaka in scoring in the second. North Greene delivered their own 7-0 win with four points from Head and a turnaround from Miller. Emma Douglas hit Unaka’s fourth three-point field goal of the quarter to lead them into the halftime break ahead 21-19.
Coach Buchanan’s decision to move into a 2-3 zone helped shut Unaka down offensively. “I was super proud of how they played zone. They were really conscious of where the shooters were. We rebounded well in it and we were able to keep Hannah in the paint and protect it for us. I was super impressed with how they played it,” Buchanan bragged.
Kalli Shepherd scored their first five points of the second half, but things got ugly quickly. Miller and Head took over to score all of North Greene’s third-quarter points to steal the lead back on a 17-3 run. Miller scored from everywhere on the court with four layups, three free throws, and a baseline mid-range jumper. Head sank a pair of three-point bombs.
North Greene stormed back to take a 38-29 lead going into the fourth.
Head took the chance to score Seven-straight for her team in the fourth. She was fouled on a three-point shot and made 2-of-3 from the stripe. A driving layup and another pair of free throws ended her streak. Loren Blevins put the game out of reach for good with a three-pointer. They outscored Unaka 12-4 in the fourth.
North Greene finished on a 25-4 run to claim a 50-33 victory on their home floor. Miller led the way with 19 points and Head scored 18. Lund and Shields each scored nine to lead Unaka.
The Lady Huskies are back in action on Tuesday night for a non-district game with Cherokee on the road. Their next district matchup comes on Friday as University travels down to play.
“We’ve got another one next Friday with UH and that’ll be our last home conference game so we’ve got to figure out as far as going on the road now. Cherokee on Tuesday so we’ll get some practice in and we haven’t worn them black uniforms in a while so we’ll knock the dust off of them and hit the road Tuesday,” Buchanan explained.
