Bradley Central senior Emma Kate Brown (10) stares down a Stone Memorial player Monday night during their Region 3-3A tournament semifinal at Bradley's Jim Smiddy Arena. The No. 1 Bearettes whipped the Lady Panthers 75-49 and will play for the region title on Wednesday.
photo by Dennis Norwood
(Story has been updated with weather postponement)
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central wasn’t about to let the rematch with Stone Memorial to be a nail-biter.
The top-ranked and undefeated Bearettes (31-0) had a 29-23 halftime lead and then destroyed the Lady Panthers with a stellar second half and cruised to a 75-49 victory Monday in the Region 3-3A semifinals at Jim Smiddy Arena.
Bradley Central outscored Stone Memorial 46-26 after halftime and easily pushed their all-time lead in the short series to 7-0.
“We came out a little bit slow,” said senior Halle Hughes. “We needed more intensity in the second half and sometimes it’s just about the ball going in.”
The Bearettes shot 43 percent (12 of 18) in the first two quarters, but pushed the percentage up to 54 (14 of 26) after halftime.
“We preach about winning the first three minutes of the second half,” said Bearettes coach Jason Reuter, who is now 198-27 in seven seasons, including a 100-9 mark at home where the team’s winning streak reached 41 straight Monday.
“We lost the momentum going into halftime, but we had the ball coming out, a six-point lead and nobody with more than two fouls. If we played to our ability the rest of the way, I felt good.”
Bradley hasn’t lost a home game since Hamilton Heights posted 48-41 victory on Nov. 29, 2014, in the Bearettes’ own Thanksgiving tournament championship game.
The Bearettes advanced to the regional championship game on Wednesday at “The Smiddy” and will play Cumberland County at 7 p.m. The Lady Jets (27-3) defeated White County 65-41 in the night’s second semifinal.
(Wednesday's championship game was postponed to Thursday at 7 p.m. due to the threat of severe storms in the area. Several school systems in the area, including Bradley County, were were closed on Wednesday.)
Both finalists also secured spots in Saturday’s sectionals. At that point, the teams are one win from going to Murfreesboro for the state tournament.
Bradley beat Cumberland twice during the season by 25 and 30 points.
“They weren’t healthy either time we played them,” Hughes said, “but we’ll come out and play Bearette basketball. We’re extremely blessed to have this opportunity and be as healthy as we are.”
Said Bradley senior Emma Kate Brown, who has played with a few of the Cumberland County girls during summer ball, “We won’t overlook Cumberland. We may have blown them out twice, but they’re a pretty tough team. They’ve got tough girls who don’t give up.”
Bradley Central placed four players in double figures with its potent 1-2 punch of Rhyne Howard and Halle Hughes leading the way.
Hughes scored a game-high 22 points and also had four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
She’s averaging 18.3 points per game and has pushed her all-time career total to 1,805, just 36 points behind No. 12 Jane Brock.
Howard turned in another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. She was also credited with six of the Bearettes’ 16 steals. Howard leads the team with a 19.5-point average and her career points climbed to 1,714 after Monday’s game, which is 13th all-time at Bradley.
Brown tossed in 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed five rebounds
Top reserve Kimia Carter finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Lexi Hinch paced the Lady Panthers (20-11) with 15 points. Tesa Johnson had 10 points, but committed 12 of her team’s 26 turnovers, which Bradley turned into 29 points.
The Lady Panthers were appearing in their second straight Class 3A region tournament after moving up from Class 2A for the 2013-14 season. Bradley eliminated Stone 66-27 in last year’s first round.
Bradley jumped out to a 14-3, but the Lady Panthers cut the deficit to 16-9 after one quarter. The Bearettes had a 27-13 advantage after a put-back and two free throws by Howard late in the second period. Stone Memorial scored eight of the next 10 points and trimmed its deficit to 29-23 at the break.
The Bearettes have proven this season they can turn up their defensive pressure, which can lead to a bushel basket of transitions buckets at the other end and Monday was no exception.
“We had to rotate better because they were getting a lot of open 3s,” Howard said. “We had to matchup more, not let them drive on us and continue to get some turnovers.”
Bradley blitzed Stone 14-4 to start the third period and Brown scored eight of the points – Howard got the other four on perimeter shot and a put-back on a Hughes miss.
“We have a team motor than many teams don’t have,” Brown said. “Halle can run all day and I’ve been trying to catch up with her for eight years. Rhyne never gives up and if someone knocks her down she’ll get up and come right back at you hard. Kaleigh McRee is a tough player.
“Teams try to get physical with us all the time, but they’re just playing basketball.”
Bradley had a 50-31 advantage after three quarters and Hughes had hit the floor – sometimes hard – numerous times and Howard took an unintentional shot to the head during the third quarter.
The Bearettes just kept coming though.
They outscored the Lady Panthers 12-7 opening the final period, delivering a knee-buckling spree that produced a 62-38 lead. When Hughes dropped in two free throws at the 1:55 mark Stone trailed 70-44.
Hughes’ sister, Kaleigh, ended the scoring by hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing as the final buzzer sounded.”
“At any level of basketball in elimination games, things can get more physical,” Reuter said. “I thought the refs did a pretty good job. There were some collisions out there, nothing vicious, and they blew whistles on I think every one of them. They didn’t just throw their hands up in the air; they called something.
“We only turned the ball over four times in the second half. We had eight in the first half. That’s why that lead went from six points to 26.
“If we have four kids in double figures and don’t turn the ball over, we’ll be hard to beat and I don’t care who we’re playing. Riverdale and a team called Stewarts Creek are still out there. Stewarts Creek might be in the top three-four teams in the state. I’ve enjoyed this ride and these kids are playing their fannies off for me, but we’re just one bad game away from going home. It’s a fragile thing. We weren’t going to lose tonight against a team that didn’t quiet have as much horsepower as us.”
LINESCORE
Stone Memorial 9 14 8 18 – 49
Bradley Central 16 13 21 25 – 75
Stone Memorial (49) – Lexi Hinch 15, Eldridge 9, Tesa Johnson 10, Capps 8, Boyd 4, Coudriet, Brun, Davis, Selby 2, Thompson, Roark 1, Robinette, Rassell.
Bradley Central (75) – Halle Hughes 22, Emma Kate Brown 15, Morgan 1, Rhyne Howard 16, McRee 4, Roberts, Kimia Carter 12, K. Hughes 3, Mayo, Hullender, Lombard 2, Walker.
3-Point Goals – Stone Memorial 3 (Hinch 2, Eldridge 1), Bradley Central 4 (H. Hughes 1, Brown 1, Howard 1, K. Hughes 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Junior Rhyne Howard of Bradley Central goes up for two of her 16 points against Stone Memorial in Region 3-3A tournament action on Monday. The Bearettes outscored the Lady Panthers 46-26 in the second half and won easily 75-49.
photo by Dennis Norwood