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RUTLEDGE – In Friday’s regional game between Grainger and Tennessee High, offense was hard to come by but the Lady Vikings found theirs when they needed it the most.

Tennessee High rallied with seven points in the final 2:05 of the contest to end Grainger’s season with a 37-33 win over the Lady Grizzlies.

“Their physicality bothered us because size-wise, they are much bigger and physical than we are,” Grainger head coach Rusty Bishop said. “That game came down to the third and fourth quarter as Tennessee High kept getting three and four shot opportunities and you can’t let a team like that do that.”

It was a struggle for both teams to find the net in the opening period as Kendal Cross’s shot at the buzzer for the Lady Vikings pulled her team to within a point at 9-8. Grainger had consecutive baskets from Maddie Hurst and Alyvia Sneed as they went up 13-9 with Hurst adding another basket with under a minute left in the half. All of Tennessee’s points in the second frame came at the line but even there, the Lady Vikings struggled as they missed four free throws and eventually would clank nine free tosses. Grainger led 15-11 at the half.

Marly Tanner’s three midway through the third period appeared to get the Lady Grizzlies’ offense going as they led 20-13 but the Lady Vikings responded with a basket by Keeyanah Foote and a three from AnnaKate Kinch to climb back into it.

Free throws then became a problem for Grainger as they missed two of their four late attempts and that allowed Tennessee to inch to within a point when Cross scored on a rebound shot with 25 seconds remaining in the third.

The Lady Vikings grabbed the lead when Janell Tabor scored but then Hayes answered to flip the advantage back to the home team. Foote went to the basket to get the lead back for Tennessee but once again, Grainger answered when Sneed connected on a three-pointer. The Lady Grizz went up 33-30 on Makayla Scott’s free throw but that would unfortunately be the last basket for the home team the rest of the contest.

“We had a hard time getting anything going all night just couldn’t get any flow and they did a pretty good job with their off-side help and we just didn’t rotate like we needed to,” Bishop said of the offensive woes. “We played a little too selfishly at times trying to score instead of facilitating teammates but when offense is as hard as it is for this team, it’s hard to win games like this.”

Leading 36-33 with 20 seconds to go, the Lady Vikings missed their ninth free throw of the contest and Grainger grabbed the rebound and looked to get the ball down the court for a possible game-tying basket but on a pass, Foote made the defensive play of the game as she stole the ball, was fouled and hit one of the two free throws Tennessee High needed to secure the victory. Hurst led Grainger in scoring with 10 points and Cross scored 15 points for the visitors from Bristol. The Lady Vikings (17-15) advance to Monday’s regional semi-final where they will face host school and top-seeded Elizabethton.

Bishop reflected on his team’s season after the game.

“We may not have been the most talented team and this team could have very well rolled over and quit many times throughout the year because we played a tough schedule. Our record wasn’t great (15-16) but the greatest thing about this team was they showed up every day to work and tried to get better. I felt like we improved from November to now and I know how much better we got from last summer until now. Nobody expected much out of this team and we probably were one win away from reaching our ceiling as we had a big win against Cocke County but this team always worked extremely hard and deserved the success we had. I’m proud of a team that will show up and work their tails off to get better.”