Bradley Works Hard For Sweep At East Hamilton

Bearettes Win 38-24; Bears Notch 51-44 Victory

  • Tuesday, January 26, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
Bradley Central girls basketball coach Jason Reuter is all business with his players during a timeout Tuesday night at East Hamilton. The Bearettes used a 17-3 edge in the fourth quarter to beat the Lady Hurricanes, 38-24.
Bradley Central girls basketball coach Jason Reuter is all business with his players during a timeout Tuesday night at East Hamilton. The Bearettes used a 17-3 edge in the fourth quarter to beat the Lady Hurricanes, 38-24.
photo by M.A. Locke

Bradley Central’s Bearettes and Bears kept their winning ways going against East Hamilton on Tuesday, but the Lady Hurricanes and Hurricanes certainly didn’t make either victory easy.

The Bearettes (18-3, 8-0) pulled away in the fourth quarter and posted a 38-24 District 5-3A victory over the Lady Hurricanes, who used a spread offense with deliberate play for a 21-21 deadlock after three periods.

Sophomore point guard Rhyne Howard, who had coaches from Middle Tennessee State and North Carolina State watching her, led the Bearettes with 21 points. She put up 10 in the fourth quarter when Bradley outscored the Lady Hurricanes, 17-3, and improved to 7-0 all-time against East Hamilton (17-6, 5-2).

“In the fourth quarter, we needed to make more shots and pull together,” said Howard, who also had 10 rebounds – all on the defensive boards – and five steals and one blocked shot.

And how.

The Lady Hurricanes, who had won 11 straight since dropping a 41-37 decision to Bradley on Dec. 11, again came up short in Tuesday’s district tussle.

East Hamilton took a 21-19 lead on Destyne Black’s layup with 4:48 left in the third period, but Halle Hughes hit a layup 18 seconds later to tie the game. Neither team scored the rest of the quarter after those field goals.

Howard drained a 3 and added a layup – Hughes had a nice assist – and the Bearettes, who ran their winning streak to six, suddenly had a 26-21 cushion.

With 2:39 left, Emma Kate Brown had a layup and Howard added a layup to cap a 9-0 run and extend Bradley’s lead to 30-21 at the 2:58 mark. Hughes had assists on both of those plays.

Kyndall Caudle hit a free throw to end a 4 minute, 44 second East Hamilton scoring drought, but the Bearettes finished the game with a 8-2 spree – Howard ended it with a high-arcing 3-pointer with 11.8 seconds on the clock.

“East Hamilton spread us out and we weren’t helping each other defensively as much as we usually do,” said Howard, who scored only five points in the first game between the district’s top two teams.

Well,” Bradley coach Jason Reuter said, “Al Davis used to say ‘Just win, baby. Just win.’ A lot of teams may have folded there. They slowed it down and tried to make the game ugly. I don’t think they wanted to run with us and I don’t blame him (East Hamilton coach Tony Williams).

“With all that said, I’m proud of my girls for winning the game going away. We must have come down six or seven times and didn’t get the lead. This was a team win and I’ll never apologize for winning.”

The Bearettes shot poorly throughout the game. They went 3-for-13 from inside the arc in the first half and ended up hitting 8-of-26 for 31 percent, well below the team’s goal of 50 percent.

“It was painful watching us shoot,” said Reuter, who is 154-26 in six seasons at Bradley. “We’ve been off for a week, but (East Hamilton) was off a week, too. We have to stay sharp.”

Bradley was 5-of-13 from 3-point distance and Howard was 4-of-6.

The Bearettes’ defense forced 20 turnovers and East Hamilton went 0-for-13 on 3-point attempts. The Lady Hurricanes hit 11-of-24 two-point tries, a lot of them layups.

“The main thing we got out of this game,” Reuter said, “was that we’ll know how East Hamilton will play us the next time if we see them in the (district) tournament.

Caudle and Madison Hayes each scored seven points for East Hamilton.

Bradley Central boys 51, East Hamilton 44: Just like the girls’ game, the Bears and Hurricanes battled evenly for three quarters.

The Bears, who have won seven in a row since dropping losses against Fulton and Alcoa in a post-Christmas tournament, could have made Tuesday’s win a lot easier by hitting a better free-throw percentage in the game. They were 12-of-25 (48 percent) from the stripe and the usually sure-shot Copeland was 4-of-9.

“Free throw shooting, me included, about killed us,” said Copeland, who scored a game-high 22 points. “We know free throws are a big part of the game, but we found a way to win tonight.

“In our game at Cleveland, we were down by one with no time on the clock and made a free throw to send the game to overtime. That’s how important free throws can be.”

The Bears went on to beat the Blue Raiders, 78-67.

Vandrele Wilson banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give East Hamilton (16-8, 2-5) a 23-22 halftime lead. Noah Fager, who finished with 12 points, made a layup to start the third period scoring and push the Hurricanes’ lead to 25-22.

The Bears (15-5, 7-0) ran off seven straight points – Bradley McCurdy had four and Copeland three – to grab a 29-25 lead. McCurdy finished with 11 points.

East Hamilton chipped away and when Justin Dozier capped a fastbreak with a layup the Hurricanes were within 31-29. Dozier, who led East Hamilton with 15 points, scored the team’s final five in the quarter and the hosts trailed 35-32 heading into the fourth period.

Copeland, who scored 14 second-half points, triggered a 7-0 run with a three-point play and baseline drive to start the final eight minutes.

McCurdy drove the length of the court for a layup to cap the quick spree and Bradley had a 42-34 lead with 6:25 remaining.

Wilson scored, but Lameric Tucker hit two free throws – his only points in the game – and Copeland nailed a fade-away jumper and the Bears’ lead was 46-36.

Noah Fager was good on a put-back bucket and added two free throws as the Hurricanes trimmed their deficit to 46-40.

Bradley scored seven of the next nine points to push the lead to 51-42.

In the fourth quarter, the Bears were 8-of-14 from the charity stripe and 3-of-8 in the last 49 seconds.

“We’ve had trouble with free throws on and off all season,” Bears coach Chuck Clark said. “And we’ve shot more than ever in practice. I don’t know what it is. It has to be a mental thing, I guess, but it’s put a few gray hairs on my head.”

The Hurricanes have now lost four in a row, three of them against district opponents.

It’s getting frustrating for coach Rodney English.

“We probably missed 12-13 layups,” he said. “Bradley did what it was supposed to do to win. I’ve said a lot that we’re a young team, but we’re 24 games into the season now. I can’t keep saying that. We’ve got to figure this out and the kids have to help us.

“We need to get over the hump in these district games, but we’re not executing enough. Both teams had 14 turnovers and the rebounding was pretty even. We have to take care of the little things. We missed way too may easy layups.”

BOXSCORES

Boys

Bradley Central                               10 12 13 16 – 51

East Hamilton                                  9 14 9 12– 44

Bradley Central (51) – Brown 6, Cole Copeland 22, Tucker 2, Bradley McCurdy 11, Ware, Pitner 7, Parker 3

East Hamilton (44) – Wilson 9, Panadero 6, Williams, Hughley, Noah Fager 12, Justin Dozier 15, Griffith , Wingard 2.

3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 5 (Copeland 2, Brown 1, McCurdy 1, Pitner 1), East Hamilton 2 (Wilson 1, Dozier 1).

Girls

Bradley Central                                9 8 4 17 – 38

East Hamilton                                  11 6 4 3 – 24

Bradley Central (38) – Hughes 9, K. Brown 1, E.K Brown 5, Morgan, Howard 21, Gaither, McRee.

East Hamilton (24) – Weaver, Moon 2, Lacey, Kyndall Caudle 7, English, Madison Hayes 7, Gray, Zeh 2, Black 4, Abernathy 2

3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 5 (Howard 4, Hughes 1), East Hamilton none.

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

Julie Gaither of Bradley Central drives for a layup ahead of East Hamilton's Maleiah Moon during their District 5-3A basketball game Tuesday night. Bradley   won the game 38-24 and improved to 18-3 overall and 8-0 in district play.
Julie Gaither of Bradley Central drives for a layup ahead of East Hamilton's Maleiah Moon during their District 5-3A basketball game Tuesday night. Bradley won the game 38-24 and improved to 18-3 overall and 8-0 in district play.
photo by M.A. Locke
Sports
Mocs Houk Named SoCon Golfer Of The Week
  • 3/27/2024

Chattanooga Mocs senior John Houk claimed this week’s Southern Conference Golfer of the Week honor with an impressive runner-up performance at the General Hackler Championships. The Athens, Tenn., ... more

UTC Homecoming Set For October 26
  • 3/27/2024

The Chattanooga Mocs completed spring drills prior to Spring Break and are now deep into strength and conditioning work ahead of the summer in preparation for the fall season. One highlight to ... more

Chapman's 5 RBIs Lead Vols To Run-Rule Win Over Tennessee Tech
  • 3/27/2024

A five-RBI game from Reese Chapman and impressive group effort from the pitching staff highlighted No. 5/5 Tennessee's 11-1 run-rule victory over in-state foe Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night ... more