Stewarts Creek Slams Brakes On Bradley's Unbeaten Season

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central’s dream basketball season came to a nightmarish end Saturday night when visiting Stewarts Creek pulled off a shocking 55-49 upset in the Class 3A sectional in a packed Jim Smiddy Arena.

The Bearettes, unbeaten in their previous 32 games, endured a calamitous shooting game and never led after leading 25-24 at halftime and watched their 41-game home winning streak go up in smoke and failed to get coach Jason Reuter his 200^th win in seven seasons at Bradley Central.

“We (five seniors) weren’t prepared to end things like this,” said Halle Hughes, who ends her high school career with 1,847 points after putting up 12 against the Lady Hawks. “It’s certainly hard to take and I hate it. There are no words to describe this really.”

So, Bradley won’t be going to Murfreesboro for the state tournament, something the Bearettes had done in three out of the last four seasons. They lost to Oak Ridge in the 2016 semifinals at Middle Tennessee State University.

The Lady Hawks (23-6), who lost four games to the neighbor Riverdale, the nation’s top-ranked team in the USA Today poll, can look forward to a short drive to Middle Tennessee State University to make their first state tourney appearance.

The tournament starts Wednesday and the draw to determine opening matchups will be held Sunday in Murfreesboro.

“This is an overwhelming feeling because we’ve never been to state before,” said Stewarts Creek’s Brandi Ferby, who led the Lady Hawks with 16 points. “Making it even better is that we lost to them in this game in the same gym last year.”

Brandi’s twin, Brianah, scored 15 points and had a team-high nine rebounds.

Junior point guard Rhyne Howard did everything but will the Bearettes to victory with 28 points and 13 rebounds – both game-high totals. She also had five blocked shots and was the lone Bradley player to score in the game’s final 2 minutes and 13 seconds.

Howard made 8-of-17 shots and went 11-for-17 at the free-throw line.

“We didn’t play good enough defense,” said Howard, a TSSAA Miss Basketball finalist and the only starter that will return for the 2017-18 season. “We knew they would crash the boards and we still gave them too many second shots.”

The Bearettes made 17-of-50 shots (34 percent) and went 14-for-27 at the free-throw line.

Stewarts Creek outrebounded Bradley 41-32 and grabbed 28 on the defensive boards. The Lady Hawks didn’t scorch the nets. They hit 20-of-52 shots (38 percent) and were 11-of-19 at the charity stripe.

While Stewarts Creek made 4-of-12 3-points, Bradley was even worse from long-distance, connecting on just 1-of-16 attempts, that being Howard’s shot with 3:50 left in the game.

Bradley was 0-for-7 from 3-land in the first half, 1-of-9 after the break.

“If we go 4-for-12 (on 3s), we probably win the ballgame,” Reuter said. “We struggled shooting the ball and we did in our last game too. I wish I had an answer for that. I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team that lost when we shot the ball well, but I know we couldn’t throw it in the ocean tonight.”

Bradley defeated Cumberland County on Thursday for the Region 3-3A tournament championship, which was delayed by one day when the Lady Jets could not make the trip to Cleveland, a decision made by Cumberland County school officials, due to the threat of potential severe storms in the area.

The delay forced Bradley Central to prepare for Stewarts Creek on Friday and play the game on Saturday.

“Cumberland delayed the region final and we had basically a 24-hour turnaround for this game,” Reuter said. “I don’t want to blow that up any bigger than what it is, but it is a fact. We could have used another day for this opportunity. This was heartbreaking and you can tell by all the sobs in the locker room back there. It meant a lot to these girls.”

The Lady Jets lost 79-58 at Riverdale on Saturday.

Hughes, a Lee University signee, said she was at a loss when Bradley’s shots in the second half didn’t start falling with more regularity. The 49 points was the team’s second-lowest production of the season – the Bearettes scored 48 points in a two-point win over Stone Memorial in December.

“That surprised me a lot,” she said. “I didn’t think we could shoot any worse than in the first half. I figured we would pick it up and the shots would start falling.  

“Coach Reuter told us tonight was a bad time to shoot bad.”

Reuter said the Bearettes needed to do a couple things to offset the sub-par shooting effort, which was substantially lower than the team’s 45.8 percent per-game average.

“If you’re going to shoot that bad, then instead of 14 turnovers that’s got to be around five,” he said. “If you shoot that bad, instead of giving up 13 offensive rebounds, you better give up two or three.

“Stewarts Creek is a fine team and they live on going to the offensive boards.”

Both teams hustled for loose balls and ricocheting shots, but it found the waiting hands of Lady Hawks players on a more frequent basis.

“A hustle and don’t quit attitude won this game tonight,” Stewarts Creek coach Lindy King said. “We talked at halftime about having 16 minutes to play. We had them where we wanted and we just had to hustle and refuse to quit. I can’t tell you how proud I am of the girls’ fight tonight.”

In a matchup of the Nos. 1 and 2 (Bradley and Stewarts Creek) teams in the coacht.com poll that leans heavily toward strength of schedules, the Lady Hawks shoved aside Bradley’s 9-5 lead and for a 14-13 advantage on Brandi Ferby’s free throw with less than 30 seconds left in the first quarter.

The game really became a dogfight after that.

Trailing 24-23 late in the second period, Bradley seniors Sydney Morgan and Emma Kate Brown each made one free throw to give the Bearettes a shaky 25-24 halftime lead.

From an uncomfortable 28-27 advantage, Stewarts Creek – the school opened in 2013 – stretched the margin to 35-29, the biggest lead for either team. Brandi Ferby scored the last five points in that spurt.

The Lady Hawks were up 39-33, but Hughes’ layup with 67 seconds on the clock cut the Bearettes’ deficit to four points.

Lauren Flowers canned a field goal and Taylor Vaughn’s 3 put the Bearettes in a 44-35 hole 28 seconds into the final period. When Brianah Ferby hit a layup and two free throws the Lady Hawks had Bradley sweating bullets with a 48-37 advantage.

Down by 50-39, the Bearettes went on a frantic 8-2 run and trailed 52-47 with just over two minutes on the clock.

After a Lady Hawks turnover, Bradley’s Kimia Carter missed a 3 from the right wing. Following a Brianah Ferby turnover, Bearettes sophomore Hannah Lombard missed the mark.

Brandi Ferby, who had five of the team’s 20 turnovers, hit 1-of-2 free throws for a 53-47 lead.

Howard’s two free throws with 13.2 seconds remaining pulled the Bearettes back to within four points.

Brianah Ferby calmly sank two more free throws and Hughes’ 3-point attempt at the other end missed and time ran out on the Bearettes.

The Ferby twins, who accounted for 33 points in the 2016 sectional showdown, now have a combined 64 points in two meetings with the Bearettes.

“Bradley is a good team and we knew that from last year,” Brandi Ferby said. “But tonight we came out on top.”

LINESCORE

Stewarts Creek                    14 12 13 16 – 55

Bradley Central                   13 12 10 14 – 49

Stewarts Creek (55) – Vaughn 5, Wilder 5, Rogers 5, Brianah Ferby 15, Brandi Ferby 16, Flowers 7, McCrary 2, Capron.

Bradley Central (49) – Halle Hughes 12, Brown 1, Morgan 1, Rhyne Howard 28, McRee 2, Carter 5, Lombard.

3-Point Goals – Stewarts Creek 4 (Bra. Ferby 2, Bri. Ferby 1, Vaughn 1), Bradley Central 1 (Howard 1).

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