Bradley Central guard Rhyne Howard goes up for a shot against East Hamilton on Monday night. Howard finished with 21 points, leading the top-ranked Bearettes to a 69-38 win that clinched their sixth straight District 5-3A regular-season championship.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Bradley Central’s Bearettes sure didn’t look like that state’s top-ranked team in first-half action Monday night at East Hamilton.
Bradley shot 27.3 percent from the floor and was missing layups, 3-pointers, free throws and committing some turnovers.
East Hamilton had a 16-11 first-quarter lead. The Bearettes regrouped somewhat and fought their way into a 25-23 halftime advantage.
Then, the Bearettes (25-0, 11-0) played “Bradley basketball,” reeled off 12 straight points to open the third quarter and went on the defeat the Lady Hurricanes 69-38 victory that locked up their sixth straight District 5-3A regular-season championship.
“We’re very confident in ourselves,” said Rhyne Howard, who scored a game-high 21 points and has played on the last three regular-season squads. “We’ve proved again that we can beat anybody and everybody in the district.”
The 25-game winning streak matches the longest at Bradley Central since 1978-79 when the Bearettes were 25-0 and lost the regular-season finale to Brainerd 60-46. That Bradley team finished 28-3 and lost to Brainerd again in the Region 3-3A tournament.
Bradley Central, ranked No. 1 in the state by coacht.com, will go into the district tournament as the No. 1 seed and an overwhelming favorite to claim a sixth consecutive tourney title. With the top seed and a bye into the semifinals, the Bearettes already have secured a spot in the region 3-3A tournament. The close the district schedule on Friday at Ooltewah and have a home game versus Maryville on Feb. 13 before turning their attention to the district tourney.
East Hamilton (14-11, 9-2), which was the only team with a chance to catch the Bearettes in the standings, will be the tournament’s second seed.
Bradley looked a bit shaken in the first half when they made 9 of 33 shots, including 2 of 16 behind the 3-point arc.
“We came out sluggish, that’s the best word I can use to describe how we played,” Bradley senior Halle Hughes said. “At halftime we talked about how we needed to come out and play Bearettes basketball. We had a much higher intensity level.”
Hughes and top reserve Kimia Carter each scored 18 points for the Bearettes.
It was Bradley’s defense that changed the game. The Bearettes forced five quick turnovers and scored off four to trigger the game-changing stretch in the third quarter.
Hughes hit a layup off a steal by Howard. Howard scored two straight buckets off miscues and Hughes came back with two more baskets – the first off another East Hamilton misplay. All of a sudden the Bearettes had a 35-23 lead. The first four Bradley field goals game in a lightning-quick 1 minute and 24 seconds.
“We just played better basketball in the second half,” said Howard said, who added seven rebounds, six assists and five steals.
East Hamilton got off to a fast start and took advantage of the Bearettes’ sub-par shooting. Madison Hayes, Carli Zeh and Maleiah Moon made 3-pointers to power the Lady ‘Canes to a 16-11 lead after one quarter.
The Lady ‘Canes led 18-14, but Emma Kate Brown’s free throw and back-to-back layups by Howard gave Bradley its first lead at 19-18. Hayes’ put-back enabled East Hamilton to go up 20-19.
With 2:10 left in the first half, Moon went down hard underneath the goal and suffered an apparent injury to her right knee. She was helped off the court and did not return to the action.
Bradley led by two points at the midway break.
“We played terrible,” Carter said. “Halle came into the locker room at half and said, ‘Don’t let this be our first loss.’ So, we played better after that. It feels great to be a part of the championship and I’m sure we’ll turn this into something great.”
After hitting nine field goals in the first 16 minutes, the Bearettes made nine in the third period and 19 in the second half. They wound up shooting 38.9 percent (28 of 72).
That turned the tide.
“We didn’t make many shots and didn’t stick to our offense,” Bearettes coach Jason Reuter said of the first-half woes. “Tonight showed that we can win in many different ways without shooting well.
“And winning our sixth straight regular-season championship is not our ultimate goal, but we couldn’t get there without winning this. We still want to win the district and region tournaments, the (sectional) and state tournament. I didn’t know if we would go undefeated in the season, but we’ve got to go 36-0 to win it all to have a chance. That’s why there was no celebrating tonight.”
Bradley wound up with 29 turnovers and put up 38 points off those miscues. East Hamilton’s Dezah Lacy was victimized eight times and Hayes seven. The Bearettes committed nine turnovers with Sydney Morgan, Howard and Carter each having two.
Hayes, a freshman scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Unity Wood also scored nine points. Lacy finished with four points and four rebounds.
NOTE: Bradley senior Emma Kate Brown has committed to Milligan and will sign in the near future.
LINESCORE
Bradley Central 11 14 20 24 – 69
East Hamilton 16 7 3 12 – 38
Bradley Central (69) – Halle Hughes 18, Brown 3, Morgan, Rhyne Howard 21, McRee 5, Roberts, Kimia Carter 18, K. Hughes, Mayo, Lombard 2, Walker 2.
East Hamilton (38) – Moon 3, Lacy 4, Suttles 3, Madison Hayes 9, Zeh 3, Patton, Wood 9, Scott 1, Gray 1, Petitt, Abernathy, Laboo 5.
3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 5 (Carter 3, H. Hughes 2), East Hamilton 3 (Moon 1, Hayes 1, Zeh 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)