No. 1 Bearettes Rap McMinn For 19th Straight Win

Bradley Turns 23 Lady Cherokee Miscues Into 30 Points

  • Wednesday, January 18, 2017
  • special to The Chattanoogan.com

Top-ranked Bradley Central shot 51 percent from the field, forced almost two dozen turnovers, saw Halle Hughes and Rhyne Howard combine for 42 points and the Bearettes rolled over McMinn County 80-25 Tuesday night in Athens, Tennessee.

It was just another night at the office for coach Jason Reuter’s team, which chalked up its 19th straight victory opening the season. The Bearettes are 6-0 and atop the District 5-3A standings.

Bradley, ranked No. 1 by coachT.com, now averages 69.6 points per game and that’s the fourth-best offense Tennessee girls’ high school basketball. The Bearettes yields only 35.8 points. The Bearettes’ average margin of victory is 33.8 points.

The Lady Cherokees (13-6, 2-4), who shot 22.9 percent from the floor (8 of 35) and made just 1-of-14 3-pointers (7.1 percent), trailed by 43-17 at halftime and 67-20 going into the final period.

They failed to score more than nine points in a quarter and were limited to eight second-half points.

Bradley’s largest lead was 57 points with 3:45 left in the game. McMinn County never led.

Hughes, a senior who has signed with Lee University, scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Hughes now has 1,600 career points and is No. 14 on the school’s all-time list. She has a 14-point career average per game.

With Hughes on the roster, Bradley has a 98-15 record.

Howard, a junior and highly recruited by teams across the country, scored 20 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds against the Lady Cherokees. Tuesday’s offense pushed her 82-game point total (82 games) to 1,459 and Howard is averaging 18 points.

Howard has helped the Bearettes to a 72-10 record in her career.

In Tuesday’s win, Howard also had three assists and six steals.

Emma Kate Brown added 12 points, including 9 for 10 from the free-throw line.

Kaitlyn Hennessee paced McMinn County with eight points and Carlee Gleaton had seven.

Struggling against the Bearettes’ pressure defense, the Lady Cherokees committed 23 turnovers. Jada Harper (six), Whitney Green (five) and Emily Liner (four) combined for 15 of them.

Bradley scored 30 points off the opposition’s miscues.

The Bearettes had seven turnovers – two each by Hughes, Kimia Carter and Anna Walker and one by Anna Roberts.

In the boys’ game, Bradley Central (11-6, 5-1) escaped with a 56-54 victory over the Cherokees (13-6, 2-4). 

LINESCORE

Bradley Central                   23 20 24 13 – 80

McMinn County                    8 9 3 5 – 25

Bradley Central (80) – Halle Hughes 22, Emma Kate Brown 12, Rhyne Howard 20, Morgan, McRee, Roberts 2, Koger, Carter 7, K. Hughes 2, Mayo 5, Reuter, Davis, Lombard 2, Hullender 2, Walker 6.

McMinn County (25) – Liner, Burns, Kaitlyn Hennessee 8, Green 4, Gleaton 7, Harper, Manney 3, Walker, Schiestel, Sitzer, Baxter 3.

3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 5 (Howard 2, H. Hughes 1, Brown 1, Mayo 1), McMinn County 1 (Baxter 1).

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

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