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ROGERSVILLE – Early in Monday’s District 2-3A tournament finals, the Grainger Lady Grizzlies seemed like they couldn’t miss but over a long stretch of time in the second and third periods, it seemed like they couldn’t hit.

The Lady Grizzlies built an early lead but then went cold from the floor as they only had one field goal in a span of 9:34 and that allowed the 7th-ranked and top-seeded Greeneville Lady Greene Devils to claim the tourney title, 61-39.

“We had to take advantage of their foul trouble in the second quarter and we really didn’t do that,” Grainger head coach Rusty Bishop said. “Greeneville is so talented and they have so many weapons to try to stop. Kayla Jobe came in the second half and absolutely killed us. They are so well coached and our margin for error is very small. Our girls played hard though”.

Grainger came out firing to start the game as they jumped out to an 11-3 lead. Adison Hayes was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws as that was the first of nine points for her in the first period. Her three late gave Grainger a 17-13 lead but Greeneville answered when Kyla Jobe scored on a rebound of a missed shot with two seconds left.

Jobe started the second the same way she ended the first as she drained a three pointer to give Greeneville their first lead of the contest. Maddie Hurst drew the foul on a made basket and connected on the free throw 30 seconds into the second period but that was the last field goal the Lady Grizzlies had the rest of the half. Grainger was able to hang around despite the cold shooting by getting to the line and only trailed by five with 3.7 left in the half. Dalaina Martin scored and drew the foul but missed the free throw only to see teammate Lauren Bailey grab the ball, stick it in and earn the whistle. She was true on the freebie as the Lady Greene Devils went up 35-25 at the break.

“It was a tough stretch where we let one mistake become three,” Bishop said of the catastrophe in the final seconds of the first half. “Instead of being down seven at worst at the half, we were down 10 and we never really recovered from that point. Greeneville is so good on their defense pressure and the way they guarded us tonight is the reason they get to cut the nets downs and we don’t.”

Greeneville sealed the deal to begin the third period as Anna Shaw and Jobe hit consecutive threes and Shaw followed her downtown shot with a two-pointer as the lead ballooned to 43-25. The long field goal drought finally came to an end half way through the third when Hayes scored a basket but the Lady Greene Devils outscored Grainger 17-5 in the third frame to go up 52-30. The offense finally got going for the Lady Grizz early in the fourth when Marlee Tanner hit an arc shot, Maddie Hurst scored and Makayla Scott was successful in the paint as the gap narrowed but the Lady Greene Devils were just too much in the 61-39 win. “The stretch they had at the beginning of the third quarter really got us,” Bishop said. “The difference in the first half and second half was we were making shots in the first half and didn’t in the second as Greeneville kind of turned up their intensity and we weren’t able to answer.”

Hayes led the Lady Grizzlies in scoring with 15 points. Greeneville got 17 points each out of Bailey and Jobe and Shaw added 13 more.

Making the All-Tournament team for Grainger was Hayes, Hurst and Tanner. Hayes and Hurst made the regular-season All-District team as did Makayla Scott.

Grainger fights on as they will host Tennessee High in the first round of the regional tournament in a must-win situation at The Den on Friday. “I don’t know a lot about them other than when we played them last summer. We have to get to work on film and I told our girls it’s a big deal to win a region game. Luckily, we are at home and Tennessee High is a quality opponent. We had our three best days of practice leading up to the semifinal game against Cocke County and now we have three days of prep for Tennessee High so hopefully we can replicate that and celebrate on Friday night.”

Cocke County 56, Claiborne 37

The Lady Red bounced back from their upset loss to Grainger in the district tournament semi-finals with a 56-37 win over Claiborne in the consolation game. Paige Niethammer scored 14 points and Destiny Reese added 10. Both Cocke County players were named the All-Tournament team. Niethammer was named the Defensive Player of the Year and Big Red freshman Blakelyn Clevenger was the Underclassman of the Year in the district. Hallie Kitchen was an All-Conference selection.

The Lady Bulldogs were led by Hannah Fugate’s 12 points as the senior guard also garnered All-Tournament honors to go along with her All-District team membership as well.