South Greene started off the week with only one Blue Ridge Athletic Conference loss and atop the league standings.

Back-to-back home conference defeats now have the Rebels needing a spark to make sure they stay in the race.

Claiborne's 56-44 win over South Greene on Friday night in the Rebel gym helps the Bulldogs maintain pace at the top of the table with one setback.

The Lady Rebels shook off a sluggish first half in their game to roll past Claiborne 71-43 and notch an important conference win.

South Greene plays its third conference game of the week tonight, heading to Chuckey-Doak to make up a game that was snowed out earlier.

Despite a furious fourth quarter comeback attempt, the Rebels fell to the conference leaders whenever turnovers at key times opened the door for Claiborne.

The Bulldogs (10-7, 6-1) took a narrow 11-10 lead at the end of the first. T.E. Myers scored six, and Kenan Wilhoit added four to make up South Greene's total.

The Rebels (13-7, 7-3) had turnover problems in the second that let Claiborne inch ahead 23-18 by halftime.

Claiborne really did its damage in the third, riding nine points from David Sweet to as much as a 16-point lead. The Rebels pulled it back to a 44-31 deficit at the end of the quarter when Charlie Baker hit a half-court 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

The Rebels played their best in the fourth quarter. Tra Haney hit a pair from close range to cut the Bulldogs' lead back to single digits. Claiborne reestablished a 15-point lead, but then South Greene got hot.

Back-to-back steals by Scott Blake followed by a layup from Blake and a 3-pointer from Wilhoit got the Rebs back to within seven at 49-42 with 3:43 to play, but then another string of turnovers derailed the comeback, and South Greene got no closer.

Wilhoit led the Rebels with 16 points and nine rebounds. Myers scored 10 and had seven boards.

Blake was held to nine points, half his season average, with all nine coming in the second half.

Sweet led the Bulldogs with 18 points.

After a poor shooting first half, whatever South Greene talked about in the locker room worked like a charm.

As bad as the Lady Rebels shot in the first two quarters, they shot that well in the second half.

Only one in three shots hit the mark in the first half (12-of-36, 33.3 percent). Better than two out of three were on target after the break (15-of-22, 68 percent).

The slow start let Claiborne hang around and make a game of it until the third quarter. The Lady Rebels could have made it a rout in the first eight minutes.

South Greene (17-5, 8-2) recorded 10 steals and four blocked shots as a team in the first quarter, helping the Lady Rebs take a 15-4 lead.

They couldn't put it away the second, and that proved big for the Lady Bulldogs (8-10, 1-6). Sam Killion hit a pair of 3-pointers for Claiborne that trimmed South Greene's lead to eight points (31-23) at halftime.

The Lady Rebels came back out and hit six of the their first seven shots in the second half, and the lead built from there.

Ansley Ricker scored nine of her game-best 20 points in the third. Maelyn Cutshaw and Brandi Crum each scored six in the third without missing a shot.

Ricker finished the game with a double-double. She had 20 points and 11 rebounds, also recording four steals.

Shelby Hicks had a big night with 14 points, eight rebounds, five blocked shots, seven steals and a couple of assists for good measure.

Crum scored 13, had seven rebounds and three steals.

As a team, South Greene had 18 steals and eight blocked shots.

Ariel Nickell was the only Lady Bulldog in double figures with 18 points.