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The wins keep buzzing in for the Greenfield Lady 'Jackets.
After beginning the year 1-3, the black and orange girls
have won three in a row, including a 53-42 victory over
the West Carroll Lady War Eagles Tuesday night at
Greenfield. "Well, I think we came out a little hesitant defensively,"
Greenfield coach Jackie Vaughan said. "West Carroll did
some awfully good things to attack the basket on us."
After watching their lead shrink to two points in the
third frame, the Lady Jackets were determined to put the
game out of reach in the final stanza. After exchanging
buckets early in the frame, center Ashley Albea nailed a
short jumper with 6:15 left in the game to extend the
Greenfield lead to 43-39. The Greenfield onslaught
continued. After a Michelle Medling jumper, an Elise Shane
trey pushed the Lady Jacket lead to nine points. Another
Medling deuce was followed by a pair of free throws and a
lone freebie from Katie Atnip to give the Lady Jackets a
53-39 lead with 51 seconds left. Only a Jessica Murphy
trey with 10 seconds left prevented the Greenfield girls
from pitching a shutout through the final six minutes of
the game.
"We kept the lead most of the night," Vaughan said. "We
were able to do some really good things in the fourth
quarter to extend the lead and hold on in the end."
Greenfield was quick to get on the board in the opening
frame. An early foul sent Hillary Dunning to the line,
where she nailed two freebies. Two minutes later, an Albea
layup pushed the Lady Jacket advantage to 4-0. The Lady
War Eagles were able to cut the lead to two points twice,
before Albea took over. The sophomore center outscored the
West Carroll girls 5-2 to push the Greenfield lead to 11-6
after one frame.
The Lady Jackets took control early in the second stanza.
This time Medling led the way. The senior nailed a trey
and three free throws during a 12-2 Greenfield run that
gave the Lady Jackets a 25-12 lead with 2:44 left in the
half. But, the Lady War Eagles refused to go quietly into
the locker room, as they got deuces from Velma Carter,
Tiffany Simmons and Murphy to cut the Greenfield lead to
seven points. After a three-point play from Shane, the
Lady War Eagles erased two of those points with a pair of
free throws from Brittany Baker to cut the Greenfield lead
to 28-20 at the half.
The Lady War Eagles did not let the game slip out of reach
in the third frame. In fact, after an early Albea deuce,
West Carroll went on a 12-3 run to cut the lead to one
point after a layup from April Gilliam, who scored nine
points during the run. Greenfield seemed to be set to pull
away again, as a layup from Albea and a Shane jumper
pushed the Lady Jacket advantage back to five. However, a
trey from Murphy with 1:13 left in the frame was the final
score of the period and cut the Greenfield lead to 37-25
at the end of three quarters.
"Elise Shane stepped up her game tonight," Vaughan said.
"Michelle Medling and Ashley Albea were both in double
figures. Katie Atnip and Hillary Dunning both played a
good floor game."
Shane led all scorers with 18 points, while Albea was
right behind her with 16. Medling added 14 in the win.
Murphy led the Lady War Eagles with 14 and Gilliam added
13. Baker chipped in 11 in the loss.
"We got some good play off the bench," Vaughan said. "Anna
Waddell came off the bench and played some good defense.
She got some big rebounds for us. I think that helped us
out towards the end."
West Carroll (42)
Brittany Baker 11, Jessica Murphy 14, Velma Carter 2,
April Gilliam 13, Tiffany Simmons 2.
Greenfield (53)
K. Atnip 1, M. Medling 14, Shane 18, Albea 16, Dunning 2,
Waddell, B. Atnip, Page 2, E. Medling, Thedford.
3-pointers - West Carroll, Murphy 2, Baker. Greenfield, Medling, Shane. |
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Greenfield's offense may have not been what coach John
Glisson wanted, but the Yellowjacket defense took up the
slack with a tremendous effort, holding the West Carroll
War Eagles to under 30 points to take a 47-29 win Tuesday
night at Greenfield. "I think we had an outstanding defensive effort,"
Greenfield coach John Glisson said. "Any time you hold a
team as athletic a West Carroll to 29 points, you have to
be pleased with your defense."
After a pair of Clint Blackburn free throws and a Brandon
Shane jumper gave the Yellowjackets an early lead, Xavier
Webb cut that lead in half with a layup with 6:29 left in
the opening frame. That is the closest the War Eagles got
to taking the lead the entire night. Greenfield responded
to that deuce with layups from Shane and Adam Vaughan, as
well as a freebie from Shane to push its lead to 9-2.
After both teams exchanged buckets, West Carroll was able
to cut the lead to four after a late foul allowed John
Taylor to nail three free throws with seven seconds left.
If the War Eagles had any ideas of taking the lead, they
were buzzed off in the second frame. A trey from John
Taylor and a free throw from Kevin Taylor were the lone
tallies made by the War Eagles in the first 7:30 of the
second half. During that time, the Jackets rattled off 14
points from six different players. By the time Vaughan
added a freebie with 1:30 left in the first half,
Greenfield held a 25-11 lead. Two late West Carroll
buckets allowed the War Eagles to go to the locker room
trailing 25-15 at the half.
After a slow start to the second half, which allowed a
John Taylor deuce to cut the Greenfield lead to nine with
5:50 left in the third frame, the Jackets repeated their
second quarter performance. A Blackburn trey sparked an
11-0 run that also included a three-pointer from Shane. A
shorter Shane jumper capped the run, giving the
Yellowjackets a 41-21 lead with just over a minute left in
the third frame. Again, a late West Carroll mark cut the
lead by two.
Neither team could muster much offense in the fourth
quarter. Both the War Eagles and Yellowjackets scored six
points in the games final eight minutes. While the
Greenfield offense sputtered after two good quarters, the
defense was strong enough to hold on for the win.
"They gave us some trouble in their zone," Glisson said.
"They're a long, lanky bunch and they can spread that zone
out. It caused some problems for us. That is an area we
need to work on."
Shane led the way for the Jackets with 17 points, while
Blackburn added 12. Both John Taylor and Webb scored a
dozen for the War Eagles.
"Any time you can get four solid quarters of defense and
hold a team to under 30 points, you have a good chance of
winning," Glisson said. "This is just one of those games
where you look at it and see where you have to improve."
West Carroll (29)
John Taylor 12, Kevin Taylor 1, Xavier Webb 12, Cameron
Hunt 4.
Greenfield (47)
Porter 1, Shane 17, Vaughan 7, Blackburn 12, Tucker 4,
Smith 2, Galey 2, Thomas 2, Robinson, Reynolds, Wimberly.
3-pointers - West Carroll, John Taylor. Greenfield, Shane
2, Blackburn. |
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