RUTLEDGE – The South Greene girls basketball team struggled on Monday afternoon and fell to Northview Academy 61-14 in the Pizza Plus Thanksgiving Classic at Grainger High School.
“I’m frustrated. We never stepped into the fight today,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “We tried to tell the girls what they were going to do on defense. I felt like early we had our defense doing what we wanted, but eventually things broke down. We have a lot that we need to work on. There were a lot of things that you normally only see in elementary ball. We didn’t want the ball, we were turning away from it when our teammate needed help. It was odd.”
Early the Lady Rebels’ defensive game plan worked as they made open shots hard to find and they were dominant on the glass. But on the offensive end of the floor they struggled getting their own shots to fall and the Lady Cougars’ length led to series of turnovers.
Despite that, at the midway point in the opening period South Greene only trailed 5-2 after Paisley Brobeck drove the lane the for a lay in. South Greene did not land another bucket in the quarter and missed four free throws.
With 13 seconds left in the period Kiley Norwood went the length of the floor for a runner that gave Northview an 11-2 lead.
Things got worse in the second quarter as Northview began to find its touch from beyond the arc. Mikinna Russell, Kinsey Collins, and Norwood all sank triples while Cheyenne Green scored four points inside for the lady Cougars.
For South Greene turnovers continued to be a problem and good looks at the basket were limited. Northview continued to use its size to overwhelm South Greene as it closed passing lanes quickly and shut down access to the paint.
Neveah Davis did land a pair of mid-range jumpers for South Greene, but Northview led 33-6 at halftime.
Northview’s balanced attack continued in the second half with seven different Lady Cougars scoring in the third period. Russell led the effort with six points.
South Greene’s first bucket of the second half was a turnaround jumper from the block by Kortnei Bailey. Ari Hoese made a pair of free throws and Alexa Gabbard put back a miss.
The game went to the fourth quarter with Northview leading 57-12.
With the clock running in the fourth quarter the game finished quickly. South Greene got one more bucket, a short jumper from Madison Fillers.
Norwood led Northview on Monday with 13 points. Savannah Clifford scored 10 points while Green and Russell each had nine points.
For South Greene Neveah Davis scored four points.
South Greene will be back in action at Grainger on Wednesday against Claiborne, and then on Friday the Lady Rebels will play Cherokee.
