BY WAYNE PHILLIPS
SPORTS EDITOR
To beat Grainger's Lady Grizzlies, Chuckey-Doak Coach Beth Frye knew her Lady Knights would have to shoot the ball well and play one of their best games of the season.
The shots didn't fall early, and the Grizzlies continued their unbeaten run through the Blue Ridge Athletic Conference by taking a 62-52 win over the Knights for the District 2-AA Tournament championship Monday night on Chuckey-Doak's home floor.
Greeneville took third place honors in the tournament, beating South Greene for the third time this year in a 45-43 thriller.
All four teams will now advance to Region 1-AA Tournament action, which starts Friday with satellite games at 7 p.m. Grainger and Chuckey-Doak will be hosts Friday, with the Grizzlies taking on Happy Valley and the Lady Knights welcoming Sullivan East. Greeneville goes on the road to District 1-AA runnerup Elizabethton, while South Greene faces the task of playing on the road at District 1 champ Unicoi County.
Winners on Friday return to Chuckey-Doak on Monday for the semifinals of the region.
Boys resume action tonight at Chuckey-Doak with the district championship game between South Greene and Greeneville at 7:30. That will be preceded by the consolation game between Grainger and Cumberland Gap at 6 p.m.
HODGE LEADS GRAINGER
Tournament Most Valuable Player Allison Hodge poured in 21 points and took up the slack during Grainger's past two games as post Laura Johnson was out of the lineup. She was also a terror on the boards, grabbing 15 rebounds as Grainger improved to 29-2.
Chuckey-Doak missed some point blank shots in the first quarter, and that sort of set the stage for the game, Coach Frye said.
"We missed those early shots and got behind ... pretty bad a couple of times," she said. "But to the girls' credit they kept battling and got back in it. We knew we would have to play especially well to beat them. They're tough. But we're still alive and we're still playing. So we'll suit up again Friday and see what happens."
The Knights (16-14) had three players in double figures, led by Hannah Riddle with 15. Karly Frye scored 14 and had five assists, and freshman Andi Lamb had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ashlyn Taylor hit three 3-pointers for nine points.
The Grizzlies broke from a 5-2 deficit to go on a 9-0 run mid way of the opening quarter, sparked by Hodge who scored seven of them. It was 17-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Grainger went up by 12 at 21-9 just over a minute into the second frame and led 23-12 with 3:05 left in the half. But the Knights stormed back, scoring the final five points of the quarter to get within 23-17 at intermission.
A rebound putback by Lamb to start the third had the Knights within four at 23-19, but Grainger went on another roll, scoring 10 straight, including 3-pointers from Mara Maples and Kara Cabbage, to command a 33-19 lead.
Once again the Knights came back to make it a game. They reeled off seven straight, with Riddle getting two buckets, and closed it back down to 35-29 with 3:00 left.
Five consecutive points by the Grizzlies to finish the third might have been the clinching blow as the Knights never recovered from the 45-32 deficit to start the fourth. They got it back to nine points, but Grainger was just too good at the foul line. They made eight straight to finish the game, four each by Hodge and Taylor Morgan.
Cabbage finished with 13 points to go along with Hodge's 21. Maples scored 11.
Chuckey-Doak (52): Karly Frye 3-13 7-8 14, Andi Lamb 5-12 0-1 10, Hannah Riddle 7-11 1-1 15, Aubry 1-6 0-0 2, A.Taylor 3-5 0-0 9, Adams 1-1 0-2 2, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, H.Taylor 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-48 8-12 52.
Grainger (62): Morgan 1-5 6-8 8, Coffey 0-2 0-0 0, Kara Cabbage 5-9 0-0 13, Mara Maples 4-10 1-3 11, Allison Hodge 7-11 6-8 21, Stratton 4-10 0-0 9, Farmer 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-48 13-19 62.
3-Point Goals: CD-4 (A.Taylor 3, Frye). Gra-7 (Cabbage 3, Maples 2, Hodge, Stratton).
Score by quarters:
Chuckey-Doak 9 8 15 20--52
Grainger 17 6 22 17--62
GHS GIRLS WIN THRILLER
The Greeneville girls and South Greene staged a thriller in the duel for third place, and a 3-point play by Madison Shipley with 45 seconds left proved to be the difference in a 45-43 decision for the Lady Devils.
For the second straight night, the Lady Rebels had a shot rim out at the buzzer that could have tied the game as a similar fate was sent the way of South Greene in an overtime loss to Grainger in the semifinals.
The first half was completely back-and-forth, with 11 lead changes and three ties before South Greene took a 27-23 advantage at the horn. South Greene's plan was to use their speed to get penetration buckets, while Greeneville countered with some solid play at the post from Shipley.
The Devils scored the first seven points of the third to move to a 30-27 lead, and they went on to lead 35-33 at the horn.
Greeneville enjoyed its largest lead of the night at 40-35 with two minutes to go when Shipley banked in a shot. But South Greene came back. A rebound putback by Jenna Shaw and two free throws by Bethanie Williams made it a 40-39 game. Baylie Foulks hit a layup off a nice assist from Chandler Christopher to put GHS up 42-39 with 1:28 to go.
Willliams scored on a putback, then after a GHS missed free throw on the one-plus, Williams was fouled and made both shots to give the Rebs the lead back at 43-42 with just 1:01 left.
Shipley scored and was fouled with 45 seconds to go and the Devils led 45-43. Neither team scored again. South Greene had the ball for the final shot but Shaw's jumper from the wing rattled out as the final horn sounded.
Shipley and Christopher led the scoring for GHS (14-17) with 15 each. Christopher had eight assists and five rebounds. Betsy Shaw chipped in with eight.
South Greene (15-15) got 10 points from Maelyn Cutshaw, nine each from Williams and Alora Ricker and eight from Shaw.
South Greene (43): Wilhoit 0-1 0-0 0, B. Williams 2-3 5-6 9, Maelyn Cutshaw 5-11 0-0 10, Shaw 4-8 0-1 8, Ricker 4-11 1-1 9, Wykle 1-2 0-0 3, Upton 0-2 2-2 2, Franklin 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17-39 8-10 43.
Greeneville (45): Chandler Christopher 6-11 1-3 15, Shaw 2-6 2-2 8, S.Leon 1-2 0-0 2, Foulks 1-2 0-1 2, Madison Shipley 7-10 1-1 15, Grubbs 1-4 0-0 3, Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Lamb 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-38 4-7 45.
3-Point Goals: SG-1 (Wykle). GHS-5 (Christopher 2, Shaw 2, Grubbs).
Score by quarters:
South Greene 15 12 6 10--43
Greeneville 16 7 12 10--45
ALL-TOURNAMENT
Named to the all-tournament team were Allison Hodge (MVP), Mara Maples and Taylor Morgan of Grainger; Karly Frye, Kayla Aubry and Hannah Riddle of Chuckey-Doak; Chandler Christopher and Madison Shipley of Greeneville; Jenna Shaw and Maelyn Cutshaw of South Greene; and Charlotte Murphy of West Greene.
ALL-CONFERENCE
The league also introduced the Blue Ridge Conference all-conference team at the conclusion of play Monday.
Karly Frye of Chuckey-Doak was named by the coaches as Player of the Year, while Chuckey-Doak's Andi Lamb was Newcomer of the Year. Grainger's Justin Combs was Coach of the Year.
The all-conference squad included Laura Johnson, Allison Hodge, Taylor Morgan and Kara Cabbage of Grainger; Karly Frye, Kayla Aubry and Hannah Riddle of Chuckey-Doak; Chandler Christopher and Madison Shipley of Greeneville; Maelyn Cutshaw and Victoria Franklin of South Greene; Charlotte Murphy and Sherry Turner of West Greene; Brooke Fuson and Emily Daniels of Cumberland Gap; and Abby Taylor and Amy Estep of Claiborne.
Honorable mention choices were Mara Maples of Grainger; Betsy Shaw of Greeneville; Alora Ricker and Jenna Shaw of South Greene; Mary Ann Murphy of West Greene; and Naysa Beeler of Cumberland Gap.
