Greenback's basketball season tipped off Saturday at Oliver Springs for the Bobcat Thanksgiving Classic.

Both the boys and girls entered with new coaching staffs and plenty of questions.

Little was answered with one game as the girls picked up their first win and the boys took home a first loss.

The Lady Cherokees survived a fourth-quarter run by Wartburg that forced overtime to win 60-58.

Greenback led 20-14 at halftime and 35-27 after three quarters, but gave up 24 fourth-quarter points. The majority coming at the foul line, where Wartburgh shot 13 of 16 in the quarter.

Regulation ended with the two teams tied at 51. Sarah Rhyne, who led all scorers with 27, scored six for Greenback in overtime. Autumn Tipton added a three-point basket.

Rhyne hit nine shots from the field, once from beyond the arc, and shot eight for nine at the charity stripe.

Tipton finished with 16, knocking down three from outside, and Meghan Russell hit two from three-point range in the first quarter on the way to an 11-point night.

The win was a solid start for a new coaching staff of Holly Tipton and Courtney McDaniel.

Greenback's boys got off to a slower start, falling to Meigs County, who will join Greenback's district beginning with the 2013-2014 season, 57-45.

With less than a week of practice with a full compliment of players, Greenback's only double-digit scorers in the game were Josh Pace with 14 and Austin Bryant with 11, both non-football players who have been participating in practices since they began.

Greenback found themselves down early in the game and were never quite able to recover.

Most of the damage for Meigs offensively came on two-point field goals, with very little coming from beyond the arc. Meigs was able to scored 18 points on 23 shots at the free throw line. The Cherokees shot 16 times at the line but scored on just 7 of those shots.

The Cherokees will look to improve in the coming weeks as they have more time to practice with a full roster.

Greenback played again Saturday as part of the final day of the Bobcat Thanksgiving Classic. The boys played Sweetwater, and the girls capped off the classic 6 p.m. against Oliver Springs. Both games were played after the News-Herald presstime.

A full schedule for Greenback will be made available soon.