donlmac

I hope Millington wins also. Coach Gat seems to be a real class act. I am a Greeneville fan and he said we had an excellent team after the game. His team is exceptionally quick and athletic and they are well coached. They seem to be very well conditioned and will have a couple more hours of rest than WC before the championship game. If Millington goes on to win the title, it will show Greeneville was a true contender by taking them to three overtimes with a number of chances to win the game.

It was a heartbreaking finish for Briarcrest. They fought back from a 10 point deficit and made some good adjustments and outplayed WC in the final period. They played their hearts out. The referees made a call you just don't make when the outcome of the entire game is so abruptly changed. On the inbounds pass a WC girl pushed off on a Briarcrest player who just retaliated and was whistled for a push. I have never seen officials make this call with the game hanging in the balance. It was a physical game and there was a lot of pushing that went uncalled all night. I sat next to a group of the Briarcrest parents and they were a wonderful and classy group of folks. I asked them if their exoerience at the tournament had been good. They said it had except for the referees. They said they doubted they would be back to the Ladies Classic citing poor officiating. This is sad for the town, the folks that work so hard to put on a quality tournament and East Tennessee basketball.

I think Greeneville is better this year than last. Yes Deans is missed, however Brianna Kelly, a very good sophomore post, is learning each game and will only get better. She is aggressive and has good skills, athleticism and moxy. She is not intimidated and knows the game. Greeneville has fewer turnovers this year. Collins is better than last year and can play good defense with her height and long arms. She is solid at the foul line and smart. She needs to be more aggressive offensively. Dickson is always solid. She is shooting the ball better now than earlier in the season. McIntyre is playing the best ball in her high school career scoring 16, 20 and 16 her last three games. The point Paige Ramsey continues to improve with experience. Sophomore wing Morgan Shipley can shoot the three as well as anyone when shooting well. Conner Hall provides quality play off the bench. The team plays solid defense every game, and the team chemistry is very good. The Ladies Classic will be a good indicator of how good they are, beginning with the first game against a very good Lake City, Florida team.

They may have come out overconfident, due to their big win over Greeneville only a couple of weeks ago, but in the first half particularly they were flatly outplayed. Greeneville controlled the ball most of the last 20 minutes of the first half in Bearden territory and probably had 3 to 4 shots on goal for every one that Bearden had. Amy Porter was great as usual. Don't dismiss this Greeneville team as an unworthy adversary. This is nearly the same Greeneville team (lost 3 starters off last years team), that gave Bearden all they wanted in the substate at Greeneville last year. Were it not for a referee awarding Bearden 3 penalty kicks in the span of 10 minutes in the second half last year (only after Greeneville tied it up 2-2 after falling behind 2-0), when Greeneville had not had a penalty kick called against them the entire season, that game could have gone either way. Instead Bearden made 1 of the kicks went ahead 3-2 then got an easy late goal as Greeneville pushed up late trying to make the tying goal. A Greeneville forward was not awarded a penalty kick when it was 3-2 on a flagrant Bearden foul in the Bearden penalty box. Bearden did control the second half play tonight moreso than did Greeneville. It was a hard fought game by two very good teams. The referees were very good. I only wish they had refereed last years game. Congratulations to Bearden. They play hard but cleanly, and we wish them the best of luck in the state tournament. Let's keep the championship in East Tennessee.