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ROGERSVILLE – After a disappointing 17-point home loss to Cocke County earlier in the season, Grainger head coach Rusty Bishop said when tournament time rolled around, the Lady Grizzlies would be a totally different team.

Turns out, he was right.

After falling behind by four points at the half, the Lady Grizzlies almost pitched a shutout on defense in the third period as they out-scored the Lady Red 19-3 to take control of the game and outpaced Cocke County 38-20 in the second half to post a 56-42 upset win. The third-seeded Lady Grizzlies will now advance to Monday’s championship game where they will meet top-seeded Greeneville at 7:30. Cocke County squares off against Claiborne at 6 p.m.

Bishop said the loss to the Lady Red the last time the two teams met didn’t disappoint him a great deal because he knew he would face them for a third time but this time in the post-season. “We knew when we played them at home that we would probably see Cocke County again in the tournament so the only thing that mattered in that game was what color jersey you were going to wear. We were very vanilla on offense and defense in that game. We were just trying to learn some things about them as they are a very talented team and put a lot of pressure on you.”

The Grainger head coach said he had a bit of a secret weapon as the Lady Grizzlies took on Cocke County in the semifinals. “The girls worked extremely hard in preparation for this game and not just the seven who played but we had had six girls on our scout team that absolutely got us ready this week. They knew Cocke County’s sets inside and out so those six girls who got us ready deserve as much credit as the rest who played.”

Lady Red head coach Chris Mintz said the combination of poor outside shooting by his team the exact opposite by Grainger in the third period was too much to overcome. “We didn’t shoot the ball after halftime as I think we went like 0-for-14 from three and we didn’t make free throws either. At the end when we were playing super hard, Grainger would make two while we only made one. They shot the lights out tonight and hats off to Grainger, that had to be as good as they have shot all year.”

Grainger used a balanced scoring attack as Marly Tanner led the team with 17 points, Adison Hayes scored 15 and Makayla Scott finished with 10 points. Paige Niethammer led Cocke County with 16 points and was the only Big Red player to score in double figures.

Five different players scored for the Lady Red in the opening period but all the scoring for Grainger came from Hayes as the Lady Grizzlies trailed 10-6 after one. The threes continued for Grainger in the second until Addison Brickey scored the first two-point basket of the game to pull the Lady Grizzlies to within a point at 16-15. Niethammer scored four in a row after that that helped put Cocke County up 22-18 at the break.

That’s when Grainger seized control of the game. Tanner started the binge off with a three which was one of four the Lady Grizzlies connected on in the 19-0 run. Blake Clevenger hit one of two free throws with 56 seconds remaining in the third and then had a steal and layup with two ticks left as she produced all the scoring for the Big Red in the period as Grainger toted a 37-25 lead into the final eight minutes of play. Grainger got the ball to the post and Scott knew what to do with it from there as she netted seven points in a two minute span for the Lady Grizz. After that, it was a matter of free throws for Grainger as they were sent to the charity stipe 14 straight times with 10 being successful in the 56-42 win.

“Our goal was to hold Cocke County to 10 points or less for a quarter,” Bishop said. “Defensively, we were pretty sound the first half except for giving up a few second chance points but as good as Paige is, that’s going to happen. We missed two great looks late and probably should have been tied at halftime. In the second half, we made some adjustments but when you shoot it the way we did in the third quarter, there isn’t a lot of coaching that has anything to do with that.”

“Monday night is important as a win will put us at a lower seeded team in the region,” Mintz said of the matchup against Claiborne in the consolation bracket. “The district up there is all about the same after you get past Elizabethton. It’s important that we get back on the right track and turn around.”

Grainger and Greeneville have faced off in the district finals numerous times in the past so Bishop knows taking down the Lady Greene Devils will be no easy task. However, the win over Cocke County assures the Lady Grizzlies will be at home for the first round of the region which was something they wanted. “You can’t worry a whole lot about matchups this time of year but we are better on our home floor and that’s why winning tonight was so important as we want to be at home for the first game of the region.”

Greeneville 74, Claiborne 30

In the opening round of the girl’s district tournament, the 7th-ranked Greeneville Lady Greene Devils used a 27-4 run in the third period to pull away from Claiborne for a 74-30 win.

The Lady Bulldogs only trailed by four points midway through the first period but Greeneville ended the first eight minutes of play on an 8-1 run. After trailing 36-22 at the half, Claiborne opened the second half with baskets by Jordan Fultz and Allie Jones but that was all the scoring the Lady Dawgs had the rest of the period as Greeneville clamped down on defense on one end and got their offense going in high gear on the other.

Jones and Fultz each scored eight points to lead Claiborne.