GIRLS BASKETBALL

Defense sends Dresden girls over Gibson County

Michael Odom
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Dresden's Millie Bryant (21) drives down the court against KJ White (32) and Gibson County during the Region 7-A quarterfinals at Dresden High School in Dresden, Tenn., on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.

DRESDEN - Playing in the region tournament is when a team should be playing its best basketball of the season.

In the first half on Thursday, the Dresden girls basketball team might have played its best defensive half of basketball.

The Lady Lions held Gibson County to five points as they beat the Lady Pioneers 54-38 in the Region 7-A quarterfinals.

"We held them to one field goal," Dresden coach Jonathan West said. "We played really good defensively. We had a couple under the weather, so we tried to hold them out here or there, but when you hold anybody to five points in a half, I don't care who it is, you are playing good defense."

Dresden (25-7) advances to play Greenfield in the region semifinals at 7:30 p.m. at Bethel University. Gibson County ends its season at 21-10.

Dresden's Kasey Gallimore, right, tries to keep the ball away from Gibson County's Catherine Watts (12) during the Region 7-A quarterfinals at Dresden High School in Dresden, Tenn., on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. A jump ball was called.

Kasey Gallimore scored 22 points to lead Dresden, while Millie Bryant added 15.

The Lady Lions got called for a few fouls early, but they settled in and pressured the ball in the half court.

Gibson County hit one field goal in the first half and didn't get off many high-percentage shots.

"We knew that we had to keep the ball out of the paint," Gallimore said. "We knew that we had to stop [Justyce White]."

Dresden's offense struggled some at the start, but the defensive execution allowed the Lady Lions some time to get into a flow in the game.

A 3-pointer right before the buzzer by Gallimore put Dresden up 14 points (19-5).

Dresden coach Jonathan West talks with Kasey Gallimore (4) during the Region 7-A quarterfinals against Gibson County at Dresden High School in Dresden, Tenn., on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.

"This is the best that we have played in the tournaments," West said. "We felt that we struggled last week in the district tournament. We kept telling that if they would focus on the things that they could control, which are effort, being in position to defend and boxing out and rebounding, the offense would come. They were focusing too much on the offensive end. Our kids stepped up and played well tonight.

But it was the 11 points that Gallimore scored to start the second half that allowed Dresden to take a 24-point lead. Gallimore outscored Gibson County 11-1 in the first 3:09 of the half.

"I knew that we had to come out of halftime and get the offense going," Gallimore said. "We wanted to keep everything going. We knew that if we had our defense right, the offense would come."

But even down 24, Gibson County was still going to make a run and try to get back in the game.

The Lady Pioneers ended the third quarter on a 7-2 run and opened the fourth quarter on a 7-3 run to cut Dresden's lead to 14 points with 5:43 to play.

But Dresden went 15-of-18 from the free throw line in the final five minutes to hold on to the double-digit lead.

Macey Neal led the Lady Pioneers with 13 points, while McKinley Burkett added 11 points.

Dresden's Alex Sledd (44) wins the tip against Gibson County's Allie Smithson (21) during the Region 7-A quarterfinals at Dresden High School in Dresden, Tenn., on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.

Greenfield 59, Clarksburg 35: The Lady Yellowjackets held Clarksburg to seven points in each of the final three quarters to advance to the region semifinals.

A nine-point difference in the third quarter allowed Greenfield (26-4) to pull away.

Chloe Moore led the Lady Yellowjackets with 24 points, while Tess Darby added 15 and Kendal Wiley finished with 13.

Clarksburg (11-21) was led by Mikayla Peterson with 14 points.

Huntingdon 63, Union City 55: The Fillies had to hold off a late Union City push to keep its season alive. The Lady Tornadoes cut Huntingdon's lead to 60-55 with two minutes left before the Fillies got some defensive stops to end the game.

Huntingdon had three players score in double figures led by Jesica Keith with 16, while Taylor Smith and LeAnn Webb added 11 points each.

Union City was led by Dymond Dmith with 25 points.

Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.