Volunteer Falls To Greeneville

Greeneville- After a couple weeks of being on a sports hiatus the Lady Falcons were back on the hardwood Thursdays night to take on the Lady Greene Devils. The Lady Falcons, who were sitting just behind Greeneville in the district, looked to pick up the road win and take first place. 

The Lady Greene Devils started fast as they had several fast break opportunities off of Lady Falcon turnovers. The Lady Falcons were not given much of an opportunity to score as Greeneville pressed and forced the Lady Falcons to take quick shots and turn the ball over. The atmosphere felt like a heavy weight championship bout as these two teams started trying to knock each other out in the first quarter. The Lady Falcons were able to find some needed success on the offensive and defensive side of the ball as Senior Anna Houck led the way in the first quarter with four points and Senior Veda Barton finding her shot from down range to close the gap to 15-12 at the end of the first. 

At the start of the second quarter The Falcons would find themselves in “And One” opportunity as Senior Ava Jackson drove in the paint and scored, but she was unable to convert the traditional three point play. The Lady Greene Devils defense continued to stifle The Lady Falcons as several ill-advised passes turned into a fast break opportunity for a three point conversion by The Lady Greene Devils and they extended their score to 24-16 at which time Volunteer’s Coach Caroline Laek called a timeout to slow down this Greeneville team. After the late second quarter time out the Lady Falcons held the Lady Greene Devils to only four points and was trailing by ten at the half  with the score being 28-18. 

In the third the Lady Falcons showed more grit and determination as they showed success trying to get their offense going against the press. The Lady Falcons, led by their Senior Veda Barton, brought energy back into the arena as they cut into the deficit little by little to make the score 32-29. The success was short lived though as they would not score a single point after the Greeneville timeout at the 2:55 mark. Greeneville would pull away and make it a 36 to 29 with a buzzer beater shot to end the third off of a Lady Falcon turnover

The start of the fourth would come with a little momentum but would not be enough as Sophomore Emilee Mailloux would intercept a pass and take it the distance to make the score 38-33. After that score The Lady Falcons would become dormant on offense as they would score only five more points the entirety of the fourth quarter and The Lady Greene Devils would go on to win with the score being 57-38. 

Much like the Lady Falcons, the boys team was ready to get back into action Thursday night as they waited their turn to take on Greeneville. Volunteer Falcons were looking for any success they could get Thursday night to help maybe propel some momentum into the rest of the season and build some confidence in this young team. 

This district matchup would prove to be a tough one as two very physical teams took to the hardwood and were battling out in the first quarter. Neither team was able to get much of an advantage as 3:42 of game time had gone by and they were knotted up 2-2. After a couple break downs on defense for The Falcons they found themselves down by 4, but with the help of Senior Tucker McLain they were able to tie it back up to 6-6 with 2:40 left in the first. The success was short lived though as the Greene devils would go on a 10-2 run to end the quarter with a 16-8 lead of The Falcons. 

The Greene Devils would get it rolling in the second quarter as their quick offense, and well played defense caused The Falcons several issues on the offensive side of the ball. With a couple of good looking mid range jumpers and several three pointers Greeneville’s twenty three point quarter extended their lead over The Falcons by eighteen at the half with the score being 39-21. 

The third and fourth quarter would be all Greeneville as they were just too much for this Falcons team to handle offensively and defensively.  Boosted by a twenty point third quarter and eighteen point fourth quarter the Greene Devils would run away with this game and pick up another district win and the Falcons once again losing by the score of 77-47.