By KEVIN WEAKS
Press Sports
Greenfield’s basketball teams may have still been running on holiday time.
Coming back on the court floor the first time since before the Christmas break, both Yellowjacket teams suffered District 14A losses at South Fulton on Friday night, falling 46-38 in the girls’ opener and 58-43 in boys’ contest.
Greenfield’s girls are now 4-3 in the league, while the boys stand at 6-1 in 14A.
The Greenfield teams are back in action tonight against Weakley County rival Gleason at the Bulldogs’ gym.
SF 46, G’field 38 (G)
The Lady Yellowjackets appeared to be in good shape tied at 34 early in the fourth period, but Greenfield did not hit another field goal until five seconds to play in the game as the Devilettes pulled away for the win.
“It boils down to little things,” Greenfield head coach Willie Trevathan said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win, and our kids did a pretty good job on defense most of the night, especially guarding Taleeah Cross. We just have to do the little things. We can’t turn the ball over, we can’t miss free throws and we have to come up with a way to get rebounds when the other team misses.”
Chasity McMullen scored twice on the low post to open the final period, putting Greenfield up 32-30 and then 34-32. But, SF then hit 6-of-9 free throws in opening up a 46-36 lead before Brittany Peoples scored on a putback with five seconds remaining in the game.
Until the Devilettes’ late run, the teams battled on virtually even terms for three quarters.
Kalee Kesterson hit a pair of field goals and Peoples added another as Greenfield trailed 10-6 after one period. Then, Rachel Roberts hit a 3-point basket and Kesterson followed with a three-point play to put the Lady ’Jackets up 16-14 at 2:12 of the second frame.
Cross hit a trey late to help SF take a 17-16 lead at the half, and then it was the 3-point shooting of Roberts and Shaynece Clemons that tied the game twice in the third period. The teams were knotted at 30-all by the end of the quarter.
Peoples had 12 points and Kesterson added 11 for Greenfield, while both Cross and Ka-lon Martin had 15 points for South Fulton.
SF 58, G’field 43 (B)
Greenfield’s early 9-5 lead, built on a pair of 3-pointers by Zac Grooms and another from Tony Robinson, was washed away by a 13-0 Red Devil run that gave SF the lead for good.
Harrison Hawks had eight of his game-high 33 points in the period, which ended with SF ahead 18-12. Hawks then scored seven more points in the second period to help push the Redmen’s lead to 34-16 at the half.
Grooms hit consecutive triples to open the second half, pulling the Yellowjackets within 34-22. Greenfield trailed 44-33 after three periods and then got as close as nine points at 50-41 to open the final period.
Hawks then finished off Greenfield with six points in an 8-0 run that stretched the Devils lead to 58-41.
Grooms and Robinson topped the Yellowjackets with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Published in The WCP 1.8.13