Green, Bulldogs have big night
- Updated: February 7, 2015
Piedmont senior guard scores 27, goes over 1,000, wins MVP for area tournament
Tournament MVP Bre Green (R) is joined by Piedmont teammates Riesha Thompson (20) and Breanna Brazier on the all-tournament team.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
PIEDMONT – Bre Green was making her way through the post-game celebration on the floor carrying the two of the biggest prizes of the night under each arm.
She was the Most Valuable Player of the 3A Area 12 girls tournament and had the basketball commemorating her going over 1,000 points in her career. Yet there was another prize she held more precious.
“Winning the area is the best,” she said.
Piedmont helped her add that to the night’s haul by beating Pleasant Valley 48-37 for their second area title in three years. The Lady Bulldogs (20-10) now play Glencoe in the Class 3A Northeast sub-regionals Monday night, while Pleasant Valley travels to Ashville.
The Lady Bulldogs hadn’t seen a 3-pointer they didn’t like and they liked a lot of them in the early going.
All 15 of their first-quarter points – and 18 of their first 21 total — came from behind the arc. Green and Breanna Brazier each had two in the opening run and Kaitlyn Ridley had the other. That was the plan all along.
“We knew they were leaving our off-side guard open and when we got (Reisha Thompson) back from her knee injury we knew it was going to be hard to guard all three of them,” Piedmont coach Terrace Ridley said. “She would penetrate and make something happen for those girls to get open outside. Any time they are set they will make that 3.
“I’m not a 3-point shooting coach – I’ve never been that way – but when you’re open and you’re a shooter and they’re giving it to you, you’ve got to take it. And if you’re hitting it, you’ve got to keep taking it.”
Ridley said they probably wouldn’t have taken that outside approach had they not been playing the Raiders in the final because most teams defend them man-to-man. The Raiders did get back to within 11, but after they lost Atleigh Brannon to a hard fall they struggled to find “enough ways to score” to get appreciably closer.
“We knew they were going to shoot 3s,” PV coach Jeremy Wallace said. “Our goal was to shut No. 14 (Green) down and let the others hit or miss and to be honest with you we didn’t do a very good job. And she knocked the bottom out of it.”
Green was effective from everywhere. She was 5 of 8 on shots from around the basket, of course had the three 3s and was 8 of 13 from the line. She also had three steals and three assists. She came into the game needing 17 to reach 1,000 and got it with her only basket of the third quarter. She now has 1,010 for her career.
“Bre Green has done everything I’ve asked her to do all season long,” Ridley said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity this year and I told Bre she was going to have to guard the best players and it’s kind of hard to do that and have some offense along with it. She works so hard on both sides of the court.”
Green called her MVP award “the best thing that could possibly happen when you’re in a tournament like this,” but credited her teammates for making it possible. Teammates Carlie Flowers, Brazier and Thompson made the all-tournament team along with PV’s Brannon, Tiffany Williams and Kara Perry, Wellborn’s Vanessa Carter and Weaver’s Keara Scott.
Piedmont 48, Pleasant Valley 37
PLEASANT VALLEY — Kara Perry 3 1-2 7, Tiffany Williams 2 5-8 9, McKinley Parris 3 0-0 8, Atleigh Brannon 2 2-2 7, Bailey Turner 0 0-3 0, Kaitlyn Strickland 0 0-0 0, Kendall Johnson 0 0-0 0, Mikala Simpson 2 0-0 4, Bailey Scott 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 8-15 37.
PIEDMONT — Sydney Prater 0 0-0 0, Breanna Brazier 2 0-0 6, Bre Green 8 8-13 27, Keshauna Jones 1 0-0 2, Riesha Thompson 0 0-0 0, Lulu Jackson 0 0-0 0, Carlie Flowers 3 4-8 10, Kaitlyn Ridley 1 0-0 3. Totals 15 12-21 48
Pleasant Valley 7 7 10 13 — 37
Piedmont 15 14 7 12 — 48
3-point goals: Pleasant Valley 3 (Parris, Brannon); Piedmont 6 (Brazier 2, Green 3, Ridley). Total fouls: Pleasant Valley 19, Piedmont 12. Officials: Harrell, Gamble, Teel.
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