South Greene's girls, already locked in as the No. 2 seed behind Grainger for the upcoming District 2-AA Tournament, cruised past visiting Cumberland Gap Friday night in Blue Ridge Conference action at the Rebels' gymnasium, while the Cumberland Gap boys held off a spirited effort by South Greene as the Panthers try to finish No. 2 behind Greeneville in the league race.

The Rebels have only one league game remaining (Saturday, Feb. 9 at home to West Greene), while the Panthers have two games left: make-up games at home to Claiborne this week and on the road at Chuckey-Doak Feb. 9.

The Lady Rebels (19-7, 9-2) cruised 74-38 to a win over the Lady Panthers (3-16, 0-10), while the Cumberland Gap boys (15-6, 8-2) beat the Rebels (4-19, 3-8) 78-60.

South Greene closes out the regular season with a tough week of games, road trips to Elizabethton and Morristown West on consecutive days Monday and Tuesday, then home to West Greene on Feb. 9 and home to North Greene in the finale on Feb. 12.

Senior Maelyn Cutshaw had a big night for the Rebels in leading the victory, dropping in 23 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out six assists and coming up with two steals. She was one of four Lady Rebs to hit double figures, as Cheyenne Upton and Amber Jones each scored 11 and Alora Ricker netted 10.

Cumberland Gap got 15 points from Whitney Elliott.

Cutshaw scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Rebs got off to a quick start at 23-7 and they never looked back. They had extended the lead to 36-13 by intermission.

Using an assortment of starters and reserves in the third, the Panthers made a brief move and cut the gap to a 15-point deficit, but the Rebs quickly recovered to head into the fourth quarter with a 50-28 lead and outscored their visitors 24-10 down the stretch for the 74-38 victory.

"We tried to work on some things with our younger players and it was good to get them a chance to play," winning Coach Stephen Gregg said. "We didn't shoot the ball very well in the first half, but we played a lot better I thought in the third and particularly in the fourth quarter."

South Greene fired in 11 3-pointers in the ball game, but it was not enough to overcome the good inside offensive attack of the Panthers and their ability to control the backboards at both ends of the floor in a 78-60 win.

Nathan Hatmaker was a man among boys for Cumberland Gap, scoring 24 points in the game and raking in 14 rebounds, including 10 boards in the first two quarters. Isaac Daniels was also strong in the paint with 16 points and Trevor Graves chipped in with 11.

South Greene got 23 points from Nick Fillers, who knocked down five 3-pointers. Logan Tweed hit double figures with 10 points.

The long shots kept the Rebels right with the Panthers for a long time, but Cumberland Gap shot well too, and their superiority around the boards was key as the Rebels normally got only one shot.

Hatmaker scored 10 points and had seven rebounds in the first quarter as Cumberland Gap led 21-17 at the first rest stop. South Greene answered with 13 first half points from Fillers, and a David Worley 3-pointer with 3:40 left in the half had the Rebs trailing by only 29-28.

But the Panthers used a 12-2 run over the rest of the quarter and maintained a 41-30 advantage at the half.

South Greene got baskets from Fillers and Daniel Lowery to start the third and cut the gap to 41-34, but then a 17-3 spurt by the Panthers allowed them to take complete control of the contest. The visitors led 60-40 at the close of the third.

The Rebs kept battling and a 3-pointer by Fillers with 4:00 left in the game closed it to 68-55. But that would be as close as they could get with The Gap settling for shooting free throws to extend their advantage.