JONESBOROUGH - South Greene’s season came to an end at the hands of Alcoa for the second year in a row on Monday night in the Region 1-2A semifinals by the score of 64-57.
“That’s always the pressure game of the year and unfortunately, we lost to a good Alcoa team twice for two-straight years. I’m proud of my girl’s effort. We didn’t shoot the ball great tonight. We faced adversity with two starters in foul trouble in the first half,” South Greene Head Coach Stephen Gregg said. “
The Lady Rebels met with the Lady T’s with a possible state sectional berth on the line. Alcoa led wire-to-wire in the win and forced South Greene to play from behind the entire matchup.
Mak Bremer helped Alcoa push out to an early 5-0 lead with a short bank shot in the paint and an assist to Kara Pitts for a three-point basket.
It took the Lady Rebels three minutes to finally get a bucket to fall. Jordyn Roderick’s cut to the basket paid off with a quick turn-and-shoot layup.
Bella Daugherty helped the Lady Tornadoes grow a double-digit lead with five-straight points.
Hailey Brooks and Ari Hoese got those five back before the quarter ended to put South Greene behind 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Bremer provided an and-one play to start the next eight minutes of play. Alcoa’s next trio of points would come in the same fashion with another three-point play from Bremer.
The Lady Rebels were ice cold from the field in the second quarter with their first made bucket coming on a Jordyn Roderick layup with 2:48 left.
Three layups from Daugherty, Pitts, and Karli Haworth helped Alcoa grow an eleven-point lead in the closing minutes.
An and-one from Kortnei Bailey helped make up the lost ground and started a small run to end the quarter. Hoese fired away from the corner and splashed another three-point basket the same way she closed out the first quarter.
Karli Haworth drained a deep triple in the final seconds to strengthen Alcoa’s lead going into the half. The Lady Rebels trailed 29-21 at the intermission.
One of South Greene’s main focuses going into the game were to limit Haworth’s output. Her lethal shooting would be put on hold with only one three-pointer made and two total field goals during the contest.
“She only got up four threes so that tells you we were knowing where she was. If you’ve seen her play, she gets up a ton of threes a game,” Gregg mentioned.
Hailey Brooks and Madison Hensley downed a pair of layups to begin the second half and kept South Greene’s confidence high. Hensley’s speed allowed her to break away from the defense on a fast break and cut their deficit down to four points with a layup.
Bremer produced four-straight points for the Lady Tornadoes to keep their lead safe.
After the game was stopped due to a fan ejection, Jordyn Roderick came out of the break and scored a layup to heighten the energy in the gym.
Haworth was knocked to the floor on a three-point attempt and went to the line and put away three free throws to put the momentum back on Alcoa’s side.
Haley Susong started to make a bigger impact in the latter half of the game starting with a layup before the quarter ended. South Greene trailed 42-33 going into the fourth and final quarter of play.
The senior guard then began the next frame with a three-point bomb. Susong and Hensley worked together through the early part of the fourth to create a solid comeback attempt for the Lady Rebels. Hensley lowered the deficit to four points with a layup.
Susong stripped the ball away on defense and fired a pass ahead to Hensley who was fouled on her way up. Only one foul shot would fall through. Hensley was fouled again a minute later and downed one-of-two again on her second trip to the line, to manage to cut the score down to 45-42 after a 9-3 run to start the fourth.
South Greene’s adjustment to run a press defense benefited them and caused multiple turnovers to start the period and allowed them to pull back within one possession.
“We were trying to press and take a couple people away and make the others handle the ball. That was a big spark when we were out there just picking it up and going coast-to-coast. It was much-needed,” Gregg expressed.
Gwen Carroll had been silent all night with zero points through the first three quarters. She proved to be instrumental in Alcoa’s win by scoring all ten of her points in the fourth quarter. Carroll started her scoring with a layup through contact.
The Lady Rebels came storming back again with a wind of momentum. Hailey Brooks scored four-straight on a layup and two free throws to cut the score down to three. Madison Hensley’s strip-and-score opportunity kept their deficit at three with only three minutes to go.
Alcoa's Amelia Pfeiffer added a quick put-back bucket in the paint that proved to be the start of the end. After a missed opportunity on offense, the Lady Rebels would be forced to start fouling. Carroll stepped up and knocked down both foul shots at the line.
With a minute left to play Jordyn Roderick cut the score to 58-52 with a layup. The Lady Tornadoes would then sink three more from the line to extend their lead to nine points.
Haley Susong drained a three-point basket to trim the lead back down to six points, and Alcoa left the door open by going one-of-two at the charity stripe. Hoese sank a wide-open mid-range jumper to make it a five-point game with 9.3 seconds left.
Mak Bremer had carried the scoring load for Alcoa all night and was the one to put the game on ice with two free throws.
South Greene would fell 64-57, putting an end to its 2022-23 campaign.
“I’m proud of the way we fought,” Coach Gregg stated. “I felt like they gave it all they had. You just can’t get some of those plays back that you normally make.”
Madison Hensley and Jordyn Roderick each led the Lady Rebels with 12 points. Hailey Brooks added 10 points.
Mak Bremer provided 19 points to lead the way for Alcoa. Karli Haworth scored 14 points and Gwen Carroll contributed with 10 points.
The Lady Rebels ended their season with a final record of 23-9. They had won fourteen-straight games prior to Monday's game.
