Unaka was unable to overcome a sluggish second quarter on Friday night.
The Lady Rangers dropped a hard-fought 61-35 decision to North Greene in the District 1-A Girls Semifinals at Happy Valley.
With the loss, Unaka moves into Monday night’s consolation game against University School, while North Greene advanced to Monday’s District 1-A Championship game against Cloudland.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle.
After North Greene hit a pair of free throws, Lauren Lund and Keyona Hague hit shots to push Unaka to a 5-2 lead. The Lady Huskies answered with three straight points before Lund hit a jump to break the stalemate.
North Greene, however, ended the quarter on a 7-1 run to take a 12-8 lead after a quarter of play.
In the second quarter, North Greene continued to have momentum as the Lady Huskies scored the first 16 points of the frame as part of a 23-1 run from the first and second quarters. That allowed NG to take a 29-9 lead at the half.
Haley Taylor and Hague jumped started the third quarter for Unaka as the Rangers opened the half on a 10-3 run. The Lady Huskies, however, saw Loren Blevins spark an 11-0 run to take a 43-21 lead into the final quarter.
The Lady Rangers kept battling in the final quarter but were unable to cut into the NG lead.
Lund scored 14 points to lead Unaka, while Taylor had nine points. Hague scored seven points.
Ella Head led all scorers with 19 points for North Greene, while Blevins had 14 points. Heidi Harmon and Haley Bailey scored seven points apiece.
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