By Darren Reese
Sports Editor
GREENEVILLE - Any win over in-county rival Greeneville is a good one at Chuckey-Doak High School.
The Lady Knights placed four players in double figures Friday night to roll to a 67-54 win over Greeneville in the consolation bracket of the Landair Ladies Classic.
Now, head coach Beth Frye hopes she can get the same type of performance from her players when the two teams meet up again next Friday when District 2-AA play resumes.
"It's hard when you come into these tournaments and play the same teams you see during the regular season," Frye noted. "I'm sure Greeneville feels the same way."
"Hopefully we can play with the same kind of effort next Friday."
The Chuckey-Doak players know that their next showdown with Greeneville will have a lot more riding on it.
"Absolutely," Chuckey-Doak senior Taylor Campbell said. "This win was good but we are already thinking about the next one."
Campbell was one of the four Lady Knights to reach double figures. She made 5-of-8 shots from the field to finish with 10 points.
Sophomore Andi Lamb led Chuckey-Doak with 22 points. Hannah Riddle followed with 11, while Hailey Taylor also added 10.
Chuckey-Doak (7-9 overall), which returned just two regulars (Riddle and Lamb) from last year's Region 1-AA championship team, has spent the first half of this season learning to play together.
Friday night, the Lady Knights turned in one of their best team performances of the season.
They shot a respectable 44% from the field, made 11-of-15 free throws, and dominated the boards, finishing with a 44-28 rebounding advantage.
"That was the difference in the game," Frye said of her team's 42 points in the paint. "We've been stressing rebounding and I thought tonight we did an excellent job."
Riddle finished with 11 rebounds to record a double-double. Alyssa Broyles added nine boards and Campbell eight.
The only negative Frye could find was the 22 turnovers her team committed.
"We have a lot of kids that are playing in the Classic for the first time this year, so you expect a little of that," the coach said. "We have a young team and it takes a while to get used to playing together. I think they are still a little bit tenative at times."
Greeneville (5-10 overall) started the game strong, making 11-of-23 shots in the first half to enjoy a 34-32 lead at the break. But the Lady Devils could only connect at a 28-percent clip (7-of-25) in the second half.
Chuckey-Doak held Greeneville to seven third quarter points.
The Lady Devils led 36-35 after a lay-up by Madison Shipley at the 5:03 mark of the third, but Chuckey-Doak stormed back with a 12-3 run to move in front 47-39.
Lamb and Riddle each had a pair of baskets in the strech.
The margin was never closer than six the rest of the way. The Lady Knights led by as many as 14 in the latter minutes of the game.
"I think we all came out with a purpose tonight," Campbell said.
"This team is good at supporting each other. After last night's game (a loss to Rockcastle County), none of us were happy with the way we played. We all stepped it up tonight."
Shipley finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for Greeneville. Lorena Leon and Reagan Lowery added eight points apiece.
Chuckey-Doak advances to the fifth-place game of the tournament, where another in-county foe aways. The Lady Knights will take on South Greene today at 4:30 p.m.
"Really, for us to have an opportunity to play for fifth place is a great achievment," Frye said. "We are looking forward to it."
