North Greene trailed the entire game, but University School of Jackson had to turn back a fourth quarter rally by the Huskies to escape with a 49-44 win Friday.
The Huskies were down by as many as 12 points early in the fourth quarter, but would not lay down without a fight as they closed the deficit down to a single point at 45-44 with 1:35 left on the clock. Sonya Wagner hit two big buckets earlier to whittle down the score.
The Bruins then missed two straight one-plus free throw opportunities, giving the Huskies a chance to score and take the lead, but they could not connect from the field. Haylen Ayers, who scored 27 for the game, knocked down a pair with 20 seconds left to go up 47-44.
The Huskies then had a chance to tie with less than 20 seconds to go, but again missed from the field and two free tosses by Carley Hays iced the outcome.
Ayers, the phenomenal 8th grader, was the only Lady Bruin in double digit scoring.
North Greene got 18 points from Zoe Sanders and 12 from Grace Buchanan.
USJ will play Mercer (Ky.) at 11 a.m. Saturday.
USJ (49): Driver 2-4 0-1 4, Spellings 1-9 0-0 3, King 1-3 0-0 3, Haylen Ayers 9-15 4-8 27, Barham 1-5 0-0 2, Hays 1-10 2-3 4, Spencer 1-3 0-0 3, Payne 1-3 0-0 3. TOTALS: 17-52 6-12 49.
NORTH GREENE (44): M.Buchanan 1-2 0-0 2, Zoe Sanders 4-5 7-10 18, Gaby 2-4 3-4 7, Grace Buchanan 4-6 1-2 12, Wagner 2-16 1-2 5, Head 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-34 12-18 44.
3-Point Goals: USJ—9 (Ayers 5, Spellings, King, Spencer, Payne). NG—6 (Sanders 3, G.Buchanan 3).
| Score by Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Jackson | 14 | 16 | 13 | 6 – 49 |
| North Greene | 11 | 13 | 10 | 10 – 44 |
