Huntsville Pulls Away From GCT

ALMA -- Greene County Tech wanted to make sure Huntsville senior Vanessa Burgess didn't get the ball, but Shelbi McCartney made the Lady Golden Eagles pay in the second half of their game Saturday in the Class 5A State Basketball Tournament.

McCartney came off the bench and canned a pair of big 3-pointers to key a 16-2 run as Huntsville went on to a 52-40 victory at Charles Dyer Arena.

Huntsville 52, Greene County Tech 40

Greene County Tech^9^9^9^13^ — ^40

Huntsville^6^14^21^11^ — ^52

Greene County Tech (16-11): Maxwell 15, Metheny 6, Adams 6, Fletcher 4, Todd 4, Woodsmall 2, Cates 2, Beasley 1.

Huntsville (19-7): Burgess 19, Campbell 14, McCartney 9, Sulffridge 6, Gragg 4.

Huntsville (19-7) advances to the quarterfinals to take on Pulaski Academy at 7 p.m. Monday.

Greene County Tech coach Trey Harding took blame for leaving McCartney open.

"Watching them on film, we knew Miranda Campbell could shoot it outside," Harding said. "They try to isolate Burgess so much inside. McCartney came off the bench and hits those threes. We were helping off her to keep Burgess from getting the ball.

"That's what good teams do though."

McCartney's 3-pointer started Huntsville's big run, but Burgess then went to work inside with a layup off a lob and a three-point play to give the Eagles a 36-25 lead with 2 minutes, 48 seconds left in the third quarter.

Campbell's 3-pointer gave Huntsville a commanding 44-27 lead seconds into the fourth quarter and the Lady Eagles never looked back.

"That helped us tremendously," Huntsville coach Charles Berry said. "We got about four or five treys there that helped open things up."

Burgess finished with a game-high 19 points, including 13 in the second half for Huntsville, the No. 2 seed out of the West. Campbell was also in double figures with 14, including four 3-pointers and McCartney added nine.

Berry said his team settled down, after a slow start and the numbers show it. The Eagles made just 6-of-14 shot from the floor in the first half, but followed that up with a 13-of-18 effort for an eye-popping 72 percent. Huntsville finished 19 of 32 from the floor (59 percent), including 8-of-16 from 3-point range.

"We were really rushing our shots early," Berry said. "We were just throwing the darn thing up, but we got better as the game went. We played pretty well defensively all night. This bunch has been kinda overachievers. I don't think anybody thought we'd be here. But we have good senior leadership and Burgess is a very good player."

Senior Whitney Maxwell finished with 15 points for the Lady Golden Eagles, who finished 16-11.

Sports on 03/09/2014

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