GREENLAND — Huntsville finally managed to exorcise some demons Friday night at Dee Lee Gymnasium.
Facing two-time defending Class 3A state champion Greenland, the Lady Eagles came out on top in a nip-andtuck affair, 38-34, giving themselves confidence heading into Christmas break.
“We’ve had trouble winning close games,” Huntsville girls basketball coach Charles Berry said. “This might help get us over the hump. It was tough with finals just being over and it wasn’t a very well-played game, but I thought both teams played hard.”
Greenland has tested itself against teams from higher classifications all season, but Lady Pirates coach Alan Barton was disappointed with his team’s performance on its home court.
The Lady Pirates committed an uncharacteristic 25 turnovers, consistently giving Huntsville easy looks at the basket.
“We’ve got to start holding ourselves accountable,” Barton said. “Huntsville’s a good basketball team, but even with all the bad things that happened, we still had a chance to win.”
Down three heading into the final quarter, Greenland’s Jenny Riggles quickly drained a trey from the corner to tie the game at 30, but Anna Rogers picked up her fourth foul with 6 minutes, 57 seconds left and was forced to play tentatively the remainder of the contest.
The Lady Eagles got the ball to Vanessa Burgess as much as they could throughout the game, and she was 4 of 6 from the foul line down the stretch, finishing with 19 points.
“I thought Vanessa did a real good job for us,” Berry said. “She does everything; she rebounds, she handles the ball. When we get in trouble, we try to go to her.”
Barton took responsibility for the loss, vowing to make practices more intense from here on out in order to avoid a repeat of Friday.
“It’s my fault,” Barton said. “I am not making practices like they should be because 20 unforced turnovers is not how the Lady Pirates win basketball games.”
BOYS
HUNTSVILLE 57, GREENLAND 18
The Eagles never trailed in a rout of Greenland in the nightcap, taking a 34-4 lead to intermission that they extended to as much as 46 in the second half.
Peyton Green scored a game-high 17 points for Huntsville, as 11 different players got into the scoring column.
Mason Miller led all Pirates with four points.