The Region 3-3A girls’ basketball tournament resumes Monday night at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, and the host Bearettes are once again in the spotlight.
Bradley Central, ranked No. 1 by coacht.com, go into a semifinal contest against Stone Memorial at 6 p.m. in Jim Smiddy Arena as a heavy favorite to extend their season winning streak to 31 games. Bradley routed Cookeville 69-35 in a quarterfinal matchup.
In the second game, Cumberland County, the District 6-3A tournament champion, plays fellow 6-3A member White County at 7:30 p.m. the Lady Jets (26-3) beat McMinn County 77-58 on Friday.
There is only one other Class 3A girls’ team with an undefeated record and that’s Riverdale from Murfreesboro. Riverdale (28-0) is ranked No. 4 by the coacht.com website, which ranks teams heavily on strength of schedule.
Bradley’s schedule is rated 22nd and Riverdale’s is 109th.
Either Riverdale or Bradley Central would have to suffer an upset loss in region play for those two teams to play before the state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Riverdale leads the state in scoring at 77.2 points per game in all classifications while the Bearettes are third and 70.8 points.
Bradley’s defense gives up 34.2 points per game and that’s ninth in Tennessee and that has been the strength of coach Jason Reuter’s squad throughout the season. The Bearettes have given up more than 40 points just once in the last 15 games, and they won the game against East Hamilton by 29 points.
East Hamilton finished second to Bradley Central in the regular season and district tournament.
Stone Memorial (20-10) played the Bearettes to their closest outcome in the 30 games played so far – 48-46 on Dec. 9. The rematch between the two teams in Crossville was not played due to illness closing Bradley County schools.
The boys’ Region 3-3A action resumes on Tuesday at Cleveland High School.
District 5-3A regular season and tournament champion Cleveland (25-3) takes on league rival Walker Valley at 6 p.m. and East Hamilton (22-10), runner-up twice to the Blue Raiders, plays 6-3A champion White County (25-6) at 7:45 p.m.
In quarterfinal play Saturday, Cleveland beat Warren County 81-62, White County ousted Bradley Central 67-54, Walker Valley whipped Cookeville 73-57 and the Hurricanes routed Stone Memorial 62-38.
Region championships are scheduled for Wednesday (girls) and Thursday (boys).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)