In a pair of heavyweight battles, Cloudland was unable to deliver the knockout punch.
The Lady ‘Landers were unable to answer a late North Greene run as they dropped a 51-40 decision, while the ‘Landers saw the Huskies pull away in the second half in a 64-50 decision.
In the girls’ game, it was a tight battle wire-to-wire for control in the District 1-A race.
After North Greene opened up to a 7-0 lead, Heaven Caraway put CHS on the board as they reeled off seven of the next nine points to close the gap. The Lady ‘Landers used a 9-0 run sparked by a Kenzie Birchfield 3-pointer along with back-to-back buckets from Gracie Freeman to take a 16-14 advantage into the second quarter.
Cloudland was able to maintain the lead for the balance of the first half as they answered an NG run with a Jasmine Birchfield jumper and a Karah Fields bucket before the half to take a 29-23 lead into the locker room at the half.
In the third quarter, North Greene found some traction.
The Lady Huskies used an 11-2 run over the first seven minutes of the second half to take a 34-31 lead. Cloudland trimmed the deficit with a Leah Birchfield bucket right before the quarter ended.
The Lady ‘Landers jumped back out in front during the opening minutes of the fourth quarter as the teams swapped the lead. Mandy Benfield tied the game with a shot at 40-40 with 4:21 left to play.
That, however, would be the last time Cloudland was able to get on the board as North Greene ended the game on an 11-0 run to secure the win.
K. Birchfield finished with nine points to lead the Lady ‘Landers, while Benfield and Freeman had eight points apiece. Caraway scored six points.
Brooklyn Anderson led North Greene with 18 points.
In the boys’ game, it was a back-and-forth battle for the first half.
After the Huskies took a 5-0 lead, Hunter Shell and Elijah Blair hit back-to-back shots to close back within one point, but North Greene ended the quarter on 7-2 run to take a 13-6 lead after eight minutes of play.
Hunter Blair and Shell opened the second quarter quickly for the ‘Landers as they quickly erased the deficit. For the rest of the quarter, the teams traded shots as neither was able to get any breathing room as North Greene held 26-23 advantage at the half.
In the third quarter, Cloudland quickly closed within one point, but the Huskies pushed the advantage back to five points by the midpoint of the quarter.
North Greene, however, took control of the game as they used a 10-0 run to push the lead to double-digits before the fourth quarter and then never looked back.
Bentley Gilbert had 13 points, but Shell finished 12 points for Cloudland. Hayden Shell and Conner Birchfield had eight and seven points, respectively.
Kendal Loftis led North Greene with 17 points.
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