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ROGERSVILLE – Grainger opened the game with 10 straight points and never looked back as they downed Cherokee 40-22 Tuesday night.

With the win, the Lady Grizzlies secure the number three seed in the upcoming district tournament and the Lady Chiefs will be seeded fourth.

Maddie Hurst capped the first 10 points for Grainger when she scored, drew a foul and then connected on the free throw. After the Lady Grizzlies built a 15-4 lead at the end of one, they used a 9-2 spurt in the second period to go up 23-7 at the half. The Lady Chiefs regrouped in the locker room and found their grove to begin the third period as Macy McDavid scored seven points in a row at one point to get the Grainger lead down to eight points. The Lady Grizz responded with seven points of their own which included a three-pointer from Addison Brickey. The visitors put the game away to begin the fourth as Hurst netted seven straight points to build the lead to 37-15 and went on from there for the 40-22 win. Hurst scored 18 to lead the Lady Grizzlies and McDavid finished the contest with 10 points.

“I thought we played really well defensively and gave them some trouble in our zone,” Grainer head coach Rusty Bishop said after the game. “We talked at halftime about trying to put them away in the first three minutes and then they went on an 8-0 run. We didn’t get in transition to start the half but we finally settled in and finished the ball game.”

“Our team fought hard the entire game,” Cherokee head coach Jason Lawson said. “Grainger’s defense is really tough and makes it hard to get into anything. We weren’t running anything very fluid and the execution wasn’t where it needed to be and that’s a credit to Grainger. We had some opportunities to get some things going but we settled and weren’t taking shots and we got out of our flow but that happens with teams with good defenses. Overall, we battled hard the whole game.”

Grainger hosts Cumberland Gap on Friday and then travels to Northview Academy on Monday before turning their attention to the district tournament. “We wanted to be the three-seed because that guarantees you a spot in the regional tournament. We will play a quality opponent but we got into the regionals so we have about two weeks of prep to get ready for that so we will see what happens,” Bishop said.

The Lady Chiefs finish with games on the road at Tennessee High and Cumberland Gap prior to the post-season beginning. “We will be in the four-five play-in game but the good news is we are at home,” Lawson said. “We have a tough opponent in Claiborne a third time and it’s been two tight games with them. Greeneville is Greeneville and Cocke County and Grainger are right behind them so we have some solid competition and hopefully we can fix some things and be able to show up and compete.”