Greenville's Lindsay Henson, center, and Sara Woodgeard, right, hold up the MSHSAA Class 3 District 2 championship plaque at the Bess Activity Center on Friday night. (Paul Davis/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By BRIAN ROSENER ~ DAR Sports Editor

Through all the celebrating, the hugs, the team photo and talking with fans in the lobby of the Bess Activity Center, Greenville senior Lindsay Henson still held onto the MSHSAA Class 3 District 2 championship plaque Friday night.

She may still be holding that thing after a hard-fought 66-61 win against Twin Rivers.

"It means the world," Henson said. "This is all we worked for all season and we're just so excited to get it."

Henson hit the go-ahead bucket midway through the third quarter, starting the decisive 14-4 run that lifted the Lady Bears to their third district title.

Greenville (21-4) will face Portageville (25-3) in the first round of the state playoffs at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Poplar Bluff's Peters Gym.

"We had to play total team ball tonight to win this and that's what you should have to do to win a district," Greenville coach Diane Meyer said.

Henson scored nine points and junior Kaylin Becker added 12 as senior Sara Woodgeard played the role of a decoy for much of the night and 6-foot-1 sophomore Tara Porter turned into a point guard while scoring 11 points.

Woodgeard scored half of her 28 points in the final nine minutes and got a key steal leading to a layin after Twin Rivers pulled within 61-56 late.

"It was big," Henson said. "Every play was big in this game. We just hung together through it all."

Briana Johnson scored 24 points to lead Twin Rivers while fellow senior Kaylee Blue scored 17 points before fouling out with 2:40 left. Alicia Boatner, Allison Boyles, Jordan Sentell and Kim Hargrove all scored in their final games for the Lady Royals (12-14).

There were 14 lead changes and nine ties including 11-11 after one quarter, before Greenville surged ahead in the second half.

The Lady Royals led 28-25 at halftime but midway through the third quarter, Porter got a putback to tie the game at 35-35 and the Lady Bears started running.

"We wasn't getting back quick enough and I think if you take those four run-outs on those long rebounds and force a few more turnovers…" Twin Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "It was a good ballgame."

The Lady Bears did not turn over the ball once in the third quarter and Woodgeard did not have a field goal until the end of Greenville's run.

Henson led a fastbreak off a long rebound, stopped and dropped a 14-footer for the lead at the 3:53 mark. Megan Montgomery was then left wide open for a drive from the wing before Woodgeard hit a pair of free throws for a 41-35 lead.

After a 3-pointer by Johnson, Porter hit a wide-open Miranda Stewart with a pass for a layin and Becker got a putback to push Greenville's lead to eight. Woodgeard hit two more free throws before scoring on a fastbreak to give the Lady Bears a 49-39 lead heading into the final quarter.

"We knew that 10 point lead could disappear as fast as

came so we just decided to be strong and play as a team," Woodgeard said.

Johnson led a late charge, scoring six straight points to pull Twin Rivers within 60-56, then pulled down a missed free throw by Greenville with 1:24 left. But the Lady Royals came up empty and after a free throw by Woodgeard, the Greenville senior picked off a pass and scored.

Johnson hit a 3-pointer to again cut the deficit to four but Porter hit Woodgeard with a it long pass and a three-point play to seal the win.

"She had to hang in there the whole game and had to run two (defenders) off of her," said Meyer of Woodgeard. "I told her to hang in there, your time's coming, just keep playing ball and she did."

Woodgeard, who was 14-for-17 at the free-throw line, did not score in the first quarter but scored 10 of Greenville's 14 points in the second.

Both teams were even under the boards but Twin Rivers shot 36 percent from the field, including 3-for-12 from 3-point range, and missed 14 free throws.

Greenville, which lost the district title two years ago to Kelly by a point, won the previous meeting with Twin Rivers this season by 19 points.

"The last three weeks they all refocused on what we were doing," Walk said. "When you play good competition -- our record is not very good -- but I think it helped us in the last two ballgames for sure."