KNOXVILLE - After a year away, it's back to the 'Boro for the Greeneville High Lady Greene Devils.

Greeneville secured its sixth trip to the TSSAA State Tournament in seven years by taking a 46-42 overtime thriller over Christian Academy of Knoxville on Saturday.

The Sub-State game was played in front of a close-to-capacity crowd at the CAK Campus Center. The Lady Devils move to 25-8 for the season while the Lady Warriors finish at 26-3.

Senior Brianna Kelley blocked an attempt at a game-tying 3-pointer just before the final buzzer to preserve the victory. GHS tacked on a free throw with a tenth of a second left for the four-point margin.

"Defense is something I stress every day, that and boxing out," said Lady Devils' head coach Stacia Crumbley. "I think the key at the end was boxing out.

"We knew coming in that they're really disciplined and play a lot like we do," she continued. "We were able to do well in the half-court for a while but had to weather the storm after they came back from 10 down in the fourth quarter."

Helping determine the outcome was sophomore point guard Chandler Christopher, who wasn't expected to play due to a hand injury.

"She didn't practice and we had decided not to dress her," Crumbley said. "I looked at the clock in warm-ups and it was 42 minutes before game-time and I decided to talk with her. We made the decision for her to dress out but still didn't plan on her playing. But she was able to and we're so comfortable with her as far as our offensive flow. I do want to say that Betsy Shaw really helped us with her hustle and she's a big part of why we're where we are."

Christian Academy had a shot at a win at the end of regulation but a long 3-pointer rimmed in-and-out as the buzzer sounded.

Four points from Kelley to start the OT gave GHS a lead it wouldn't relinquish though the game went down to the final tick. Kelley finished with a double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds).

"This was great before, but making it to the state as a senior is the most amazing feeling ever," Kelley said.

Samantha Fender also poured in 15 points for the winners and added six boards. Senior Morgan Shipley also collected a half-dozen rebounds as GHS finished with a 29-22 advantage on the glass.

For the Lady Warriors, three players hit for double-digits. Kelsey Brown tossed in 16, Alesa Hammaker 11 and Brittany Hoffman tallied 10. Hoffman also grabbed six rebounds. Hammaker, who had piled up 25 points in the CAK regional final win over Austin-East, is the daughter of former ETSU multi-sport standout and Major League Baseball pitcher Atlee Hammaker, who pitched in the 1983 All-Star Game while a member of the San Francisco Giants.

Both teams were slow out of the gate offensively with each displaying tenacious defense. Greeneville took a 3-0 lead and held Christian Academy off the board until the 3:10 mark. But from there, the host team reeled off a 6-0 run with Hammaker hitting a pair of jumpers to go on top. The Lady Devils edged within 9-7 as Rainey Story scored with 15 seconds left in the stanza. GHS was forced into six of their 15 turnovers in the first quarter.

The Lady Devils played an even stronger second quarter defensively, holding CAK to six points and going in front at the intermission 18-15. Fender scored six points in the period and Kelley added five. Christopher entered the contest at the 5:03 mark of the quarter and immediately provided a spark with a pair of sparkling assists.

With a 9-0 run which included a Shipley trey, the visitors built a 10-point spread (27-17) late in the third. Impressive defense continued to throw CAK out of their offensive rhythm with the Lady Warriors only scoring four points in the period. But Hammaker did nail a key lean-in with just four seconds left to give her team life in pulling within eight.

The fourth quarter featured an electric atmosphere in front of a fully-involved crowd.

Greeneville's Story, who missed time in the third quarter due to foul trouble, was eventually forced to the bench after picking up her fifth personal with 2:26 left in regulation.

It was CAK's turn to ratchet up the defensive pressure in the fourth in scoring 14 of the next 20 points to tie the game at 33-33 with 51 seconds remaining on a Hammaker basket. Leading the charge during the surge was Brown with seven points.

The Lady Devils' Kelley gave her team the lead back with an off-hand lay-up at the 30-second mark but Hoffman tied the game at 35-35 by dropping in two free throws with 18.5 seconds left. After a beautiful strip by Hoffman in the lane, the Lady Warriors called timeout with 1.9 seconds left, only to see a long 3-point attempt by Hammaker spin out of the cylinder at the horn.

In the extra period, Kelley dropped in two free throws and a hoop for a 39-35 lead. Greeneville's Fender and Shipley added free tosses to partially offset baskets from Brown and Hoffman. Hammaker dropped in a shot at the line but CAK also missed three times from the charity stripe in overtime. Kelley converted twice more at the line with 27 seconds left to keep GHS on top, 43-40.

After a Hoffman bucket made it a one-point game at 43-42 it was Christopher, playing with a soft cast on her left hand, being fouled with 15.8 seconds left and making one-of-two.

"I bricked the first one and realized I couldn't really use my second hand to put it up; I just had to use it for support and was able to make the second one," Christopher explained.

After a timeout, CAK committed just its 10th turnover of the night and Christopher again hit one-of-two at the stripe for a 45-42 lead with 5.5 ticks left.

The Kelley block then put a stamp on the outcome, with Fender adding a free throw for the final four-point margin.