GREENE COUNTY
After upsetting No. 2 seed Greenforest in the first round of Class A Division II state playoffs, No. 3 seed Greene County faced top-seeded Taylor County on Friday night.
Despite a hard-fought game, the Lady Tigers came up short in their effort to advance as the Lady Vikings were just too much to handle, posting a 65-49 win.
“I’m proud of my girls,” Greene County head coach Derrick Williams said. “It was a very hostile environment, but not in a bad way. If you’ve been to some of those older south-Georgia schools’ gyms, this is the first one we’ve played in all year that didn’t have any air conditioning. So, it was hot and loud, and I just think we ran out of gas in the second half.”
The Lady Tigers came out fighting from the opening tip-off and battled Taylor County all game. They relied on players such as Sonovia Reynolds and Keiara Jernigan to stay in contention.
Greene County led 23-21 at the half over the heavily favored Lady Vikings, who made it to the semifinals last year before losing to eventual state champion Lake Oconee Academy.
However, Taylor County took over in the second half and outscored the Lady Tigers 18-9 in the third quarter. The Lady Vikings shut down Reynolds, Jernigan and Osy West, and showed why they were one of the best teams in Class A Division II during the last two periods.
Taylor County’s leading scorers, Jaliyah Zackery and Jaydah Ford, also took over the game.
“My girls aren’t necessarily used to playing in that element, but I am proud of the effort we gave,” Williams said.
“At the end of the day, their best player (Zackery) showed why she was the best player on the court. She took over the game,” he continued. “We had a game plan, but it just didn’t work out. We kind of held her in check during the first half, but she definitely showed in the second half why she was the player of the year in their region. She averages 18 (points) and 10 (rebounds) a game. She was just too much for us to handle.”
Greene County’s season ended with a 15-14 overall record and a 6-6 mark in region play. The Lady Tigers also reached double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in six years.
William’s squad also advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in more than a decade, with 2008-09 being the last time Greene County won a playoff game before the 2022-23 season.
The Lady Tigers also played one of its toughest schedules in program history, with two region matchups against defending champion LOA, and several non-region playoff teams from higher classifications.
“We had some goals that we set at the start of the season. For one, we wanted to improve from last year, which ended not how wanted it to,” Williams said. "So, one of our goals was to make state and we did that. Obviously, we wanted to win the region, although we came up a little short on that, but another goal was we wanted to win a playoff game, and we did that as well. If you look at my roster, we only had one girl (Reynolds) who had any state playoff experience and she was a player that transferred in.
“So, I knew going into the season, it was going to be interesting. Also, losing Sariah (Armour) and Chris’Tia (Hilsman) before the season was something we didn’t know was going to happen,” Williams added. “Heading into the season, my top-two leading scorers and rebounder weren’t going to be playing, so I knew we were going to be playing young, but all of the girls stepped up at some point this season. They exceeded my expectations.”
Greene County’s only seniors are Armour and Hilsman, so all 12 varsity players will be back next season. The Lady Tigers hope to return to the postseason in year three under Williams and then advance to at least the quarterfinals of the state playoffs in their 2023-24 campaign.