Game 3 – North Greene 52, Oak Ridge 45

Oak Ridge had no answer for North Greene’s post presence, and the end result was another surprise in the opening round of the tourney as the Lady Huskies knocked off the Wildcats 52-45 Tuesday night.

North Greene’s duo of Hannah Miller and Haley Bailey were so dominant in the paint that they totaled 46 points between them. Miller finished with 25 and Bailey had 21, and the rest of the Huskies did what the coach told them to do, and that was keep feeding the ball inside.

The Huskies were never able to put the Wildcats away, but they did seem to be in constant control of the ball game except for a brief period in the third quarter when they saw their 30-25 halftime lead evaporate into a 36-30 deficit as Oak Ridge scored the first 11 points of the period.

A North Greene time out with 2:47 left in the period seemed to solve the problem, as Coach James Buchanan’s crew responded with an 8-2 run, with Miller and Bailey taking it to the hole, over the rest of the quarter to pull into a 38-38 tie at the horn.

Miller and Bailey then took turns making buckets to start the final period as North Greene tallied the first eight points and grabbed a 46-38 lead.

It wasn’t over yet, though. Oak Ridge’s Euleesha Mitchell scored seven straight and her 3-pointer with 1:42 left closed the gap to 46-45. The Huskies didn’t panic and Miller banked in a layup, then came up with a steal in front court and fed to her sidekick Bailey who banked in another for a 50-45 lead with :45 seconds to go, and that was enough to get the job done.

Both Miller and Bailey had nine rebounds each and North Greene outrebounded the much longer Ridgers 27-19. They also took care of the ball, making only 10 turnovers. Mercy Buchanan never scored but had five assists and four steals. North Greene is 10-4 on the year.

Oak Ridge (6-5) got 13 points from Mitchell. Ayana Porter scored 11 and had six assists.

OAK RIDGE (45): Stewart 1-2 5-6 7, Ayana Porter 4-11 0-0 11, Euleesha Mitchell 5-11 2-3 13, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Eubanks, 1-2 0-1 2, Pippins 1-5 0-0 2, Boone 0-1 0-0 0, Jenna Johnson 4-7 2-2 10. TOTALS: 16-39 9-12 45.

NORTH GREENE (52):  Buchanan 0-1 0-0 0. Harmon 1-2 0-0 2, Blevins 0-2 0-0 0, Head 2-5 0-0 4, Haley Bailey 10-13 1-1 21, Hannah Miller 9-17 7-8 25. TOTALS: 22-41 8-9 52.

3-Point Goals: OR—4 (Porter 3, Mitchell). NG—0