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Lady Hawks open holiday tournament with a.m. win

andy reed, the lebanon democrat, tenn.
·5 min read

Dec. 29—SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. — A strong fourth quarter by Aubrey Blankenship fueled Green Hill's going-away 39-26 triumph over Central Hardin (Ky.) on Tuesday morning in the opening game of the Lady Invitational of the South at Allen County Scottsville High School.

The Lady Hawks never trailed, jumping to a 5-0 lead against Central Hardin's zone. The Lady Bruins of Elizabethtown drew to within 8-7 at the first-quarter break before Green Hill extended the lead to 20-13 by halftime behind 14 first-half tallies by Blankenship.

Central Hardin drew to within three points during the third quarter as Green Hill struggled to score. The Lady Hawks held to a 26-22 lead going into the fourth before pulling away with a 13-4 final eight minutes as Blankenship finished with 26 points.

"We did a much better job in the second half, especially the fourth quarter, of really trying to pound the ball inside," first-year Green Hill coach Joseph Simmons said. "It's something that we've been hammering home to them every day, not just when Aubrey is in there but when any of our post players are in there. We've got to do a much better job. We work on it every day and we talk about it. We just got to do a much better job getting the ball inside and letting them create and hopefully if they don't score, they get fouled and put some pressure on the defense."

Sullie Gerik finished with five points and six rebounds while Savannah Kirby and Ava Heilman each hit a 3-pointer and Kensley Carter two as Green Hill improved to 7-6 going into yesterday's second-round game against Murfreesboro Central Magnet. Cameron Bryan brought down seven rebounds as the Lady Hawks controlled the glass 37-29.

Julianna Smith scored 11 to lead the Lady Bruins, who fell to 3-3-8 going into a consolation contest yesterday. Khania Jones led everybody in rebounding with 12.

"To hold a team like Central Hardin to 26 points, I thought that was really, really good defensively for us," Simmons said. "In the fourth quarter, we did a much better job as a whole of executing our offense and being very patient."

Green Hill hit just 3 of 15 3-point shots in the first half and finished 4-of-19, a reflection of the Lady Hawks' commitment to get the ball inside.

"Against the zone, our philosophy is we want to attack it from the inside out," Simmons said. "In the first half they were able to stay in that zone a lot because we were jacking up 3s... We don't need to live and die by it. We can shoot it, but at the same time we've got a size advantage. We need to take advantage of that. Once we were able to get it inside they had to get out of that zone once we expanded the lead. They had to guard us man and we were able to execute our stuff."

Simmons took over a team which finished third in District 9-4A during the regular season before knocking off undefeated Cookeville to take the league tournament championship. The Lady Hawks are built around Sanford-signee Blankenship and a strong group of sophomores who have now won four straight and 5 of their last six.

"We're making strides," Simmons said. "But it's like I told everybody back before the season, 'Don't judge us just on December. Judge us in late January and February once we've had time to jell and create a lineup that's going to end us helping us win ballgames.

"For our sophomores to go out and produce — they're not just playing, they're producing for us and they're helping contribute to our success. We got three or four seniors who are really contributing. It's nice to have (senior) Ava Heilman back from her ACL injury from last year. That gives us four seniors that we can count on that can produce for us. So we have a good mixture of veteran players and youth. They just like playing basketball. So we're just trying to figure our ways to put them in position to be successful and in turn help our team be successful. We're better when we play as a team. We don't want to just focus on one person doing it all."

Depending on the outcome of yesterday's game, Green Hill will play in today's 7:15 p.m. semifinal or a 4 p.m. consolation contest. Westmoreland, from just down U.S. Highway 231/31E, is the lone Tennessee team the Lady Hawks could play today.

Devilettes surge past East Forsyth in second quarter

GULF BREEZE, Fla. — Lebanon's girls overcame a slow start to defeat East Forsyth (Ga.) 58-47 Tuesday afternoon in the Pensacola Beach Basketball Event at the Gulf Breeze Community Center.

The Lady Broncos, who pressed the entire game, built a 14-10 lead at the first-quarter break before Lebanon outscored East Forsyth 20-10 in the second to take control 30-24 by halftime. The Devilettes were up 50-35 going into the fourth as they improved to 11-3.

"We didn't make shots early," said Lebanon coach Cory Barrett. "Once we settled in, we got control of the game."

TK Hastings hit two 3-pointers and led Lebanon with 18 points while Shaunna Rowe, recovering from a broken finger which sidelined her at the start of the season, racked up 11 points and nine rebounds. Point guard Tiara Spencer scored 10 while Finley Tomlin tossed in six; Julia Manus, Madison Jennings and Ro Dowell each dropped in three and Macey Baker and Trinity Franzen two apiece.

Adeline Robush led the Lady Broncos with 14 points while Ella Mabroch tossed in two triples on her way to 13.

Lebanon returned to the Community Center yesterday to take on Woodmont (S.C.). The Devilettes will wrap up their trip today with an 8:30 a.m. game against Rogers Heritage (Ark.) at Gulf Breeze High School.