Bradley Central junior Rebecca Reuter, who picked up two technical fouls in the Bearettes’ sub-state victory over Blackman on Saturday, has been suspended for two games by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.
The first game Reuter, a 6-foot-2-inch post, will miss is the team’s state tournament opener against Science Hill of Johnson City on Wednesday at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center.
“Ruled her out next two games,” Bradley coach Jason Reuter, Rebecca’s father, said in a text Monday afternoon. “Said it’s all judgment calls.”
Both technicals against Rebecca Reuter, half of the Bearettes’ vaunted Twin Tower inside game, along with 6-1 junior Brooke Copeland, came in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.
The second technical came after Reuter picked up her fifth foul of the game with 2:29 left and Bradley Central leading 48-35. Blackman’s Crystal Dangerfield made two free throws, the Lady Blaze retained possession and Dangerfield made a lane floater with 2:03 on the clock.
Bradley Central went on to win, 55-46, and earned their first berth in the Class AAA state tournament since 2000. It was the Bearettes’ first sub-state victory in 19 years.
In the opening day of the state tournament on Wednesday, the Bearettes (29-2) and Lady Hilltoppers (33-3) will play at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)