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RUTLEDGE – Cherokee fell behind big on several occasions in their district championship game with Greeneville on Monday night and made several comebacks to get within striking distance but just never could get over the hump.

Rylee Sivert scored 19 points, Kenady Deal had 15 and Addie Lawson chipped in 12 points but the Lady Greene Devils were still able to prevail 75-56.

“Unfortunately, we had to use a whole lot of energy to climb back into it a couple different time,”’ Cherokee head coach Jason Lawson said. “We had a really good third quarter and were able to get back into it but it seemed like every time we got it to the threshold of 10 points, Greeneville would make a huge shot on the other end and that’s what good teams do. We came out flat and never could recover.”

Greeneville’s Maria Lyde, who was named the tournament MVP, scored 24 points to pace the Lady Greene Devils with Julia Woolsey right behind with 20 points and Brylee Tullock netted 19 points. Lyde did most of the damage in the opening frame as Greeneville built a 20-7 lead. That lead got to 34-13 midway through the second before Cherokee responded by narrowing the gap to 37-22 at the half when Lawson was true from downtown.

The Lady Chiefs got the ball to Sivert to begin the third and she responded, chipping the lead down to 10 points at 43-33 at the 3:44 mark of the third. Sivert and Lawson each scored baskets in the fourth that made it a 10-point contest but Greenville had the answer both times in the 75-56 triumph.

Cherokee plays on as they will host Tennessee High on Friday night in the opening round of the regional. Lawson, who was honored as the district Coach of the Year for 2025-26, said the Lady Vikings are a familiar opponent as they faced them earlier this year.

“We played them before at the Ladies Classic in Greeneville in December. They have gone through some adversity the last few weeks and when we played them the first time, we had a couple of kids get hurt. It will be an interesting matchup from the old Big 7 Conference when we played up there. We are very familiar with each other and we are going to go to work to try to fix some things that we need to get better at to keep advancing in the tournament. Hopefully we can refocus, reset and come out with some energy.”