Late defensive effort gives Grainger win over TKA at Pizza Plus Thanksgiving Classic

After a rough first two quarters, Grainger finally got things going after halftime according to Bishop. “We were much better offensively in the second half. We spoke at halftime and even before the game that our advantage was in the post with Maddie Hurst and Makayla Scott. Our guards were a little out of control in the first half but in the second half, we did a much better job of feeding our post players the basketball which was the difference in beating TKA.”

The Lady Grizzlies rounded out the first period with a 7-0 run to go up 13-7 going to the second frame but TKA’s Skylar Walden reeled off eight straight points to get her team back into the thick of things. Walden scored 11 points in the second period to help give her squad a 28-26 advantage at the break. Grainger was able to climb back with baskets by Scott and Taylee Rutherford to claim a 34-33 lead going to the fourth. The Lady Lions clung to a 46-45 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the contest but that was when Grainger got hot on both ends of the court, forcing the Lady Lions into multiple miscues that resulted in Lady Grizz points on the other end. Hurst scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the final period to help the Lady Grizzlies come out on top, 53-46.

Walden, who is only an eighth grader, played far beyond her years as she finished with 16 points. Olivia Loveday, who is also not even in high school yet, added 12. Bishop said he was impressed with the way the young Lady Lions battled his team. “They are very, very talented even though they are young. Walden and Loveday are eighth graders and my scouting of Loveday was wrong as in the one game film we watched, she didn’t take a shot but she was really good tonight. TKA gave us some looks we hadn’t seen and we were playing a little different defense and it was trial and error. We finally fixed some things there late in the third and into the fourth.”

Grainger’s stout home court record will be put to the test on Wednesday night as Elizabethton, a team that went to the state tournament last year and returns all five starters, comes calling. “We always play better at home and most basketball teams do but that record and how special a place this is will be put to the test against Elizabethton,” Bishop said.