So far, the Greenback basketball season has been something of a disappointment on both sides.
The girls, coming off a 19-11 season and with some experience returning, have found themselves down to seven players and sitting at 3-4 on the season.
For the boys, they sit at 1-5 and have yet to find consistent scoring in the young season. Friday, at home against Midway, the Cherokees came up short again.
With the girls losing 53-50, the boys were on the wrong side of a 69-41 final.
The Lady Cherokees looked to be in good shape at the half, leading 33-23 over their district foe.
However, a 20-point third shifted the momentum and final score in favor of the Lady Green Wave.
Starting point guard Sarah Rhyne finished with 12 points, finding herself in foul trouble in the game with four. She was scoreless in the third quarter.
Playing with Rhyne on the bench was a concern for coach Courtney McDaniel and an area where she felt her team needed to improve.
Meghan Russell picked up the slack for much of the game, scoring 21, but scored just five of her points in the second half.
Midway did nearly all of their offensive damage on two-point field goals, hitting just once from beyond the arc and attempting just four free throws in the game.
Greenback's boys struggled on both sides of the ball Friday. Leading 14-12 at the end of the first, the boys failed to score more than 11 in any other quarter and allowed totals of 21, 17 and 19 from the Green Wave.
Josh Pace led the Cherokees in scoring with 11. Senior Austin Bryant scored just two points in his return from an injury, which held him out of the team's loss to Grace Christian Tuesday.
Landon Disney's 10 points made the game one of the few for Greenback this season in which the team has had two player reach double-digits in scoring.
Greenback will look to rebound from the loss and pick up their first district win Tuesday at Berean Christian.
The boys won both meetings with the Eagles during the 2011-2012 campaign and was one of the few teams the Cherokees beat multiple times in the season. In all, Greenback's boys are 8-0 against the Eagles.
Berean Christian's girls have not beaten the Lady Cherokees since 2009. Greenback is 7-1 in the series since in began.
The final home game of 2012 for Greenback is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 17 against Oakdale. They will travel to Gray to take part in the Daniel Boone Christmas Classic to end the year.
NEWS-HERALD
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