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RUTLEDGE – Grainger used a balanced offensive effort on Senior Night at The Den on Friday as they defeated Cumberland Gap 56-35.

Adison Hayes scored 15 points, Maddie Hurst added 12 and Maddie Hurst finished with 10 as the Lady Grizzlies moved to 14-13 on the season and closed out their regular season home slate of games.

Unlike the game in Claiborne County earlier in the season where the Lady Panthers got to within 10 points in the final period, Friday’s game was determined early as Grainger scored the first 14 points and were never really tested the rest of the evening. “At Cumberland Gap, we controlled the game but it stayed at 14 or 15 points and then they kind of got back into with their zone,” Lady Grizz head coach Rusty Bishop said of the comparison between the two games played against Cumberland Gap. “That gave us some problems so we were better prepared for their matchup tonight. The first two quarters, we out-scrapped them, played really hard and played with the intensity required to win basketball games. Our press was really, really good and I liked our effort and energy over the first two quarters.”

The deep shots were falling for the Lady Grizz as they connected on six in the first half which included the rare four-point play when Hayes drained a three, was fouled and hit the free throw. “Tonight was one of the first times we have had three or four people make threes in a game. It was good to see those go in and maybe that will continue over the next couple of weeks,” Bishop said of his team’s proficiency from behind the arc.

After opening the first period 20-4, Grainger extended their lead to 41-11 at the half and scored the first six points of the third period before the Lady Panthers recovered a bit to finally get some shots to go down the rest of the way. Bishop said the slow beginning may have been due to the fact his team hadn’t had such a large lead at the mid-game break this season. “We had a little bit of a lackluster performance coming out of the locker room in the third quarter and I told them at halftime we had not been in that position all year long and we were hoping we could put that bunch away. We finally fixed it towards the end of the third.”

With a running clock, Cumberland Gap was able to score some points in the final frame and held Grainger to only three in the final eight minutes of play, those coming on a shot by Ava Dellinger where she scored the hoop, drew contact and connected on the free toss. Emry Glover did most of the damage for the Lady Panthers as she scored a game-high 18 points.

Grainger will wrap up the regular season on Monday night as they travel to Kodak to take on Northview Academy. Post-season play begins next Saturday as the 3rd-seeded Lady Grizzlies take on 2nd-seeded Cocke County at Cherokee. Bishop said he looks forward to what he hopes is a productive week for his team.

“Northview is a good test for us and a good team to play going into the tournament. They do a lot of things well. We will use it as a tune-up for conference tournament play. We will have an off day on Tuesday and then we will have three good days of prep before we see Cocke County next Saturday.”