The South Greene girls nearly erased a 21-point, second-half deficit on Thursday night, but they could not quite catch Riverside, South Carolina in the opening round of the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic and fell 67-63.
“The girls bought in in the second half, and we found a way to give effort to speed them up,” South Greene coach Stphen Gregg said. “But these close games can be habit forming. We showed some good things, down 20 a lot of teams would have given up, but these girls are resilient and they’re learning. I hate to ever be happy with a loss, but we can build off of this.”
With 5:41 left in the third quarter Riverside’s Madison Garrido took back-to-back steals the other way and put the Lady Warriors in front 48-27.
South Greene had to turn up the pressure on defense and Samantha Birdwell turned a pair of steals into layups. In between those shots she knocked down a three-pointer. With 3:16 left in the period Kortnei Bailey tapped one off the glass and the Lady Rebels closed the gap to 48-38.
Birdwell was a big part of South Greene’s comeback effort as she scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half while earning five steals and five rebounds.
“Samantha started playing with another gear late in the game,” Gregg said. “Her and Alexa (Gabbard) on top of our 2-2-1 press made a difference. And then her and Ari both got hot from the outside in the second half. But we have to find a way to start with the energy we had at the end.”
A three-pointer by Ari Hoese closed the gap to 50-41, but Riverside took a 55-41 lead into the final frame.
South Greene’s tough, trapping defense continued to pay dividends in the fourth quarter while perimeter shooting allowed the Lady Rebels to take chunks out of Riverside’s lead.
That started with Hoese sinking a triple from the right corner. A pair of steals then led to a pair of triples from Birdwell that closed the gap to 57-54.
Bailey then scored on an inbound play to make it 59-56 with 3:23 left to play.
With 2:08 remaining Bridwell and Alexa Gabbard trapped the ball at mid-court to force a steal. Going the other way that turned into a put-back bucket from Bailey that she turned into three points the hard way to pull the Lady Rebels within one point at 62-61.
Gabbard did not show up in the scoring column on Thursday, and in fact the only statistics she accumulated were four steals, but Gregg felt like her presence on defense was one of the biggest reasons South Greene was able to close the gap.
“Alexa has not been playing basketball long, but her efficiency numbers led us tonight. Her plus/minus was plus 13. She doesn’t score a lot, but on defense she speeds them up and makes them uncomfortable. I hope the other girls can learn some things from her.” Gregg said.
Garrido answered with a driving layup on Riverside’s next possession, and then South Greene’s next two possessions ended with no points. Three free throws by Ansley Lagrange were enough to keep Riverside in front to the finish in a 67-53 win.
“Basketball comes down to two things a lot of the time. Getting a stop when you need a stop, and getting a bucket when you need a bucket,” Gregg said. “We chipped away at that thing, and we had the momentum, but at the very end we just couldn’t get that loose ball or make that shot.”
Thursday’s action started with Madison Hensley scoring seven points in the first six minutes and when Neveah Davis sank a triple South Greene led 15-11.
Garrido closed the first period with her fourth three-pointer of the frame and Riverside led 16-15.
In the second quarter Hensley went down with an injury and the Lady Rebels struggled to stay in synch, committing 17 turnovers in the first half. Over the final 2:41 of the first half the Lady Warriors outscored South Greene 15-4 to take a 42-27 lead into halftime.
Bailey led South Greene on Thursday with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Hoese was also in double figures with 14 points.
Garrido scored 26 points for Riverside while Elly Trickett had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
South Greene falls into the consolation bracket and will play North Greene on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Daniel Boone 72, Chuckey-Doak 59
The Chuckey-Doak girls tried to claw their way back on Thursday afternoon in the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic opener against Daniel Boone, but ultimately slow starts in both the first and second quarters led to a 72-59 defeat.
The Lady Black Knights took nearly five minutes to score, and by the time their first shot dropped though the iron they were in a 10-2 hole. Chuckey-Doak did manage to push the pace late in the opening frame and closed the gap to 10-9. In that run Tavyn Southerland scored a transition layup, Kennedy Brown was fouled after a steal and made two free ones, and Isabell Karricker finished a steal by Saniah Atchison.
Daniel Boone then scored seven points in 1:02 to take a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter began with the Lady Blazer going on a 13-1 run to take a 30-13 lead. Andrea Flores and Ayla Masters each connected from behind the arc in that stretch while Flores scored seven of her game-high 27 points during the run.
Kennedy Brown broke the streak with a triple from the corner, but 13 seconds later Ashlyn Seymore answered with a triple for the Lady Blazers.
Daniel Boone took its biggest lead at 43-19 when Flores made a pair of free throws with 37 seconds remaining in the first half.
The second quarter finished with Chuckey-Doak getting layups from Jayden Myers and Brown to close the gap to 43-23.
Late in the third quarter Chuckey-Doak began to find its groove and scored 11 straight points. Tralyn Southerland started things by finishing a steal by Atchison with a layup through contact. She made the free throw that followed for three points the hard way. Brown then took a steal the distance and scored in transition on a good feed from Tavyn Southerland.
With 52 seconds left in the third quarter Myers made two at the foul line to close the gap to 53-42.
On the trip the other way Flores sank a triple for Boone. The Lady Blazers took a 56-44 lead into the final frame.
With 3:32 left to play Flores struck from deep again to put Daniel Boone in front 66-49, but the Lady Knights had one more run left in them.
Chuckey-Doak got as close as 66-57 when Atchison sent a feed across the paint to Layla Fox for a layup.
Over the final 1:55 the Lady Knights only got one more shot to fall and Daniel Boone took the 72-59 win.
Chuckey-Doak falls into the consolation bracket where it will meet Morristown West on Friday Morning at 9 a.m. Daniel Boone will play Spring Valley, West Virginia at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Brown led Chuckey-Doak’s offense with 18 points. Tavyn Southerland had 15 points and six rebounds, and Tralyn Southerland had six points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Knoxville Catholic 52, North Greene 31
The North Greene girls struggled to get anything going on offense against a long and speedy Knoxville Catholic defense on Thursday night in the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic and fell 52-31.
In the early going neither offense could get much going and North Greene held a 4-2 lead at the midway point after Kaydence Marshall sank a triple for the Lady Huskies.
Maggie Frana scored on a pair of inside buckets to put Catholic in front and the Lady Irish led for the final 27 minutes.
Amaya Redd scored five points for Catholic and Marshall added four more points for North Greene as the Lady Irish took an 11-8 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter Catholic’s defense was suffocating and that allowed the Lady Irish to score the first six points of the period to take a 17-8 lead. Frana sank a triple and a jumper from the elbow in the run.
Marshall broke the streak with a three-pointer but that was the only field goal the Lady Huskies managed in the period.
At halftime Catholic led 22-12.
After three-pointers from Ariana Swain and Khole Cook the Lady Irish moved in front 32-16.
North Greene finally got Hannah Miller going on the inside late in the third quarter with three buckets from the block, but Redd answered with six points of her own and Catholic led 38-22 at the close of the third quarter.
North Greene could not do much to challenge the lead in the fourth quarter and Catholic took a 52-31 win.
Redd scored 14 points for Catholic while Frana had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
For North Greene Marshall scored 13 points.
