The North Greene girls turned in a remarkable defensive effort in the first half on Wednesday morning and used that to propel them to a 55-47 win over Tennessee High on the final day of the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic.
“That is as good of defense as we have played in a half this year,” North Greene coach James Buchanan said. “We withstood some stuff early, but once we settled in we played really good defense. That is a good team we just beat. We’re sure happy about it. It’s a good way to close out the 2025 part of the season.”
The Lady Huskies allowed just 12 points the first half, and with a smothering presence and quick switches they allowed prolific scorer Addie Wilhoit to make just two field goals in the first 16 minutes.
“We tried to make sure we guarded (Wilhoit) beyond the three-point line,” Buchanan said. “If she is hitting bombs we can’t help on that so we had to stay in her face. Then anytime she got by us we wanted to throw a second body at her. That puts us in a situation where we have to rotate, and that can be a lot to process. But these girls did a good job of helping, and then helping helpers, and staying on their man. Basketball is hard, especially if you want to play it at a high level. I’m just glad we did it right more times than not today.”
Tennessee did play in front for much of the first quarter as the Lady Huskies struggled to get shots to fall in the early going. Wilhoit started things with a three-pointer from the left wing and Jasmine Jones landed a midrange jumper for a 5-2 advantage.
Natalie Foshie quickly checked in for North Greene and her tight coverage of Wilhoit held the Lady Vikings’ star scoreless for six minutes.
With 2:30 left in the period a free throw by Foshie tied the game at 5-5, and North Greene took the lead at 8-5 when Eva Leonard sent a pass ahead to Foshie for a triple in transition.
Tralyn Southerland then drove the lane to give North Greene a 10-7 lead and the close of the first quarter.
Midway through second quarter Tennessee’ Noel McInnis hit from deep to draw the Lady Vikings back within three points at 13-10. North Greene then finished the first half on a 10-2 run.
Josie Graham got things going when Southerland found her slashing through the paint for a lay in. Leonard followed by coming around a screen and sinking a breakaway trey.
In the final 53 seconds Cadie McDevitt scored on a pair of put backs to send North Greene to halftime leading 23-12.
North Greene outrebounded Tennessee 34-25 on Wednesday with Southerland leading that effort with 11 boards. The ability to get second chances and to hold Tennessee to one shot per possession was critical in deciding the outcome.
“The offensive rebounding at the end of the half was so important, and we have been stressing crashing those offensive board,” Buchanan said. “Hopefully that performance tonight lights a fire under them because they see the benefits. I don’t know that we win tonight without that rebounding advantage. If you can’t rebound, you can’t win.”
In the third quarter Ella Head got North Greene going with a triple and followed that by taking a steal the other way as the lead grew to 29-17.
Tennessee got five points from Wilhoit, but Head answered by going into the paint and lofting in a runner that turned into three points the hard way.
Southerland beat the buzzer with a leaning runner from right block to put North Greene in front 37-26.
In the fourth quarter North Greene’s lead reached 45-31 with 4:50 left to play when Foshie made one of two at the free-throw line.
From there North Greene became too eager to shoot from deep instead of running the clock and finding looks inside. On the other end of the floor Wilhoit finally found some space to move and sank two triples to close the gap to 45-39.
After a steal by Carleigh Warwick turned into a layup on the other end the Lady Vikings were within four points at 45-41 with 2:48 left to play.
McDevitt broke the streak with a corner three, and then Foshie put in four points to stretch the lead back out to 53-43.
North Greene finished the day with a 55-47 win and improved to 13-2 heading into the new year.
Head finished Wednesday with 16 points for North Greene. Southerland had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Foshie scored 10 points.
Wilhoit ended the night with 22 points for Tennessee.
