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Green, the 5-6 sophomore guard who leads the Green Devils in scoring, was at again on Monday, as she tallied 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in leading her team to a 42-41 non-conference win over the Rockets. Even though Burton has seen her young sensation do this before, she was still impressed with Greene's efforts after the game.

"Thank goodness we had her tonight," Burton said after the game.Ê "Reese is a tough place to play.Ê It's a long drive from home, and they are always well coached and they play tough defense.

"But Kristen was really feeling it tonight."

Greene scored five points in the first, 10 in the second, eight in the third and two in the fourth to account for her game-high total. The young guard knew that her game was the result of her teammates.

"My teammates did a great job tonight of finding me when I was open," Greene said. "My outside game was off, but I was really feeling it from the paint, so I was moving alot and just trying to get open.

"Thank goodness my teammates found me when I was there."

As good as a game as Greene had, the Rockets nearly pulled off the comeback win.

Brown City, who led by as much as 11 points in the third quarter, could only watch as the Rockets outscored them 12-5 early in the fourth to take a 39-38 lead with just :38 seconds left to play in the game.

But a Sandy Oligny layup for Brown City with :11 seconds left put the game on ice for the Devils, even though this was a situation that Burton knew her team never should have been in.

"We just weren't into the mentally out there for the most part," Burton said. "The girls went into a press, which is something I told them not to do, and Reese made us pay for that.

"We were lucky to get out of here with the win tonight."

The Green Devils rode the hot hand of Greene to an early lead in the game.

Brown City outscored Reese 10-8 in the first and 12-11 in the second to take a 22-19 lead at the half.ÊGreene scored 10 of Brown City's 12 points in the second frame, all of which was due to the change in offense Burton made out of necessity.

"Reese came out in a 1-3-1 defense," Burton said.Ê "That was the first time we had seen that defense all year. So we switched from our box offense to a flex, and Kristen was able to find some holes for easy buckets.

"It worked out well for us in the end."

Some sharp shooting from Reese's Jade Ackerman in the second half nearly led her team to victory. Ackerman hit three three-pointers after halftime, and finished the game with 14 points, as the Rockets took the lead with under a minute left to play.Ê The Oligny basket and some good ball handling by Michelle Burgess allowed the Green Devils to run out the clock,though, and get out of town with the hard-fought win.

Oligny ended the game with eight points and four rebounds.Ê Burgess had five points, five assists and four rebounds in the win.

Even though they were faced with a long bus ride on the way home Monday night, coach Burton could rest assured she had at least two things to be thankful for on the way home:Êthe fact that they won the game and the fact that she has Kristen Greene on her team.

"It's a long trip home from Reese, especially on a school night," Burton said.Ê "But a win is a win, and we'll take it.

"And thank goodness we had Kristen Greene out there." Andrew Selich is Sports Editor at The County Press.Ê He can be reached at (810) 664-0811 ext. 8124 or andrew.selich@lapeergroup.com.