The Greensburg girls basketball team traveled into southern Decatur County Friday morning and tipped off the South Decatur Classic against the same Cougar team it had defeated one week ago.

The hosting Cougars had hoped for a better outcome than its 30-point loss to the Pirates in their first game, and it appeared that South was up to the task yesterday.

Greensburg took a 7-2 lead on senior Melanie Trammell’s 3-pointer, but South junior Ashley Lewellyn scored seven points in a three-minute span to fuel a 10-0 South run. The Cougars had stormed back from an 11-4 deficit to take a 14-11 lead on senior Briana Palmer’s fair of free throws.

Junior Laura Welage pulled Greensburg back on top at 19-17, and South encountered foul trouble in the final minute of the half.

A basket by Greensburg sophomore Jennifer Redelman gave the visitors a 24-18 lead at the break.

Trammell and Lewellyn led all scorers with nine points apiece.

Throughout the second half, the rivals found themselves in a 3-point shootout after Greensburg had built a 28-18 lead.

South sophomore Kassidie Diekhoff cut into the lead with a trey, but Welage answered with her own at the 5:35 mark of the third. The shot gave Greensburg a 10-point lead, which stayed in double figures the rest of the game in a 64-37 win.

Greensburg senior Chas Lecher scored half of her 14 points in the third quarter while the Pirates outscored South 23-7 in that period.

The 3-point exchanges heated back up in the fourth quarter. Palmer hit a triple with two minutes left, then senior Katie Burns answered with a triple to put Greensburg up 61-31. The same two girls repeated the sequence on the next pair of possessions before South junior Taylor Nolting drained a triple on South’s final possession of the game.

Palmer was held to 13 points to lead South, while Lewellyn scored 11. Diekhoff added five to lead the rest of the Cougars’ scorers.

Greensburg head coach Mike Miller admitted that the game consisted of two “very different halves” as the second half was more productive after struggling in the first half.

“The third quarter is what we want,” said Miller.

Melanie Trammell finished with 22 points and six steals, leading Greensburg’s 24-for-59 shooting (40 percent) from the field.

Greensburg shot 12-of-15 from the foul line, notched 15 assists and grabbed 24 steals defensively. The Pirates nabbed 23 rebounds.