Greeneville tops Lady ‘Canes on Senior Night

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Greeneville’s girls scored the final six points of the half to break open a close game, put down a rally by Morristown East early in the third quarter and then cruised to a 65-41 victory Monday night at Isenburg-Siler Gym.

Lauren Bailey tossed in 18 points to lead a balanced attack as the Lady Greene Devils racked up their 22nd win against seven losses.

Chloe Marsh chipped in 16 points and Lindy Carter 11 for the winners.

Morristown East, which closed its regular season with a 12-15 worksheet was led by Finley Surber with 18. Nobody else scored in double figures for East but Hailey Hall added eight and Chloe Slover seven.

The Lady Hurricanes will open play in the District Two 4-A Tournament at Sevier County on Friday night. The second-seeded Lady ‘Canes will play cross-town rival Morristown West at 7:30 p.m.

East played well in the first half and was locked in a 23-23 tie halfway through the second quarter. But the Lady Devils pulled out to a 34-25 halftime lead.

Surber scored the first seven points of the third quarter to chop the deficit down to 34-32 but Greeneville then ran off the final 13 points of the quarter to break the game wide-open.

East coach Justin Combs said, “I thought we played well for about 2 ½ quarters. The girls came out to start the second half and played about as well as you could ask them to. We started with a 7-0 run and cut the lead down to two.

“Then they took a time out and I felt like we kind of run out of gas,” he said. “Greeneville stepped up and showed why they’re a top-five team in the state with 22 wins. They had balanced scoring and hit open shots down the stretch and got away from us.”

Combs went on to say, “I was proud of my kids for battling just like they did all year. We’re had a tough regular season schedule and ended it with one of the best teams in the state.

“I didn’t think my kids shied away from that one time all year,” he said. “To win 12 games out of 27 against our schedule with this program being as young as it is I felt was a good season.

“We’ve got to take some of the tough lessons we’ve learned throughout the season against great teams and try to apply them right now in the post season and play well.”

East didn’t shoot the ball well, making a cold 34.9 percent on 15 of 43. The Lady ‘Canes were 6 of 20 from long range. Greeneville connected on 45.6 percent, making good on 26 of 57 including 4 of 16 behind the arc.

The visitors had a 35-28 rebounding advantage as Marsh and Kyla Jobe pulled down eight each. Surber raked off 10 stray shots for East.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Slover and Hailey Hall gave East an 8-5 lead early in the game. But Bailey scored seven to spark a 14-3 run by the Lady Devils.

Surber scored for the home team and Slover knocked in another three and East led 16-14 before the visitors ran off the final seven of the quarter to lead 21-16 at the first break.

Jobe had a bucket to start the second quarter before Surber scored seven straight to tie the game before Bailey banged in a triple and added another bucket. Hailey Hall scored for East but Marsh sandwiched baskets around one by Jobe to end the half.

Surber scored seven in the first 2:25 of the third quarter to get East within 34-32 but the Lady ‘Canes didn’t score the rest of the quarter. Carter hit three baskets and two free throws to spark the 13-point spurt and Tamryn Ellenburg added a three.

Bailey hit a free throw to start the fourth period and East never got closer than 14 as the Lady Devils won it going away.

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