Bearettes Romp 80-33 For Second Straight Unbeaten Regular Season

No. 2 Bradley 26-0 Heading Into District 5-3A Tournament Play

  • Saturday, February 10, 2018
  • Larry Fleming

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Horrible weather probably kept some fans away from Jim Smiddy Arena on Saturday night.

But University of Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell showed up.

Bradley Central basketball seniors were in the house, including the sensational Rhyne Howard, who is quickly bringing her illustrious four-year career to a smashing close.

The Bearettes showed up and dished out another lopsided victory, this one an 80-33 rout of Stone Memorial in a non-district contest pitting state-ranked teams.

Bradley’s ball-hawking defense was present, forcing the Lady Panthers into 34 turnovers.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Bearettes coach Jason Reuter said. “(Stone Memorial is better than that. They played last night against Cookeville and I think they were heavy-legged tonight. But it was our Senior Night and that’s probably worth 10 points in Jim Smiddy Arena.

“We only have one senior (Howard), but she’s an army unto herself and with four players in double figures it would have taken one heck of a performance to have beaten us tonight.”

Coach Jason Reuter’s club shared the offensive wealth, with four players finishing in double figures.

And the Bearettes were able to celebrate their second straight undefeated regular season as they improved to 26-0 and upheld their No. 2 state ranking by MaxPreps. The No. 4 Lady Panthers dropped to 19-6, with two of the losses against Bradley, which won by 52-46 in Crossville last December.

“It was not expected going into the season,” said junior Kaleigh Hughes, who shared team-high scoring honors with Howard with 17 points. “We’re proud of ourselves, but this is just the beginning for us. This has been practice for what’s coming.”

In 2016-17, Bradley finished 26-0, added five more wins in the postseason and then was upset at home by Stewarts Creek in the Class 3A sectional, one win shy of the state tournament. The Bearettes finished 32-1, but spent a frustrating offseason just thinking about a season that ended so abruptly and short of expectations.

“Last year was amazing,” said sophomore Anna Walker after scoring 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting. “None of us started except Rhyne, but we came together this season and were motivated to do it again. It’s like crazy how we’ve improved.”

Howard made her first five shots and was perfect at halftime. At game’s end, the 6-foot-1 point guard had eight assists, seven steals, five rebounds and went 6 for 9 from the floor.

As has been the case the entire season, she took her teammates by the hand and led them past any slippery slope against all-comers. The Lady Panthers have lost six games – two to the Bearettes, and one each to No. 1 Riverdale, Cumberland County, Pickett County and Cookeville.

None thumped the Lady Panthers as bad as the Bearettes’ 47-point pounding on Saturday.

“We’ve worked harder and harder this season to get better and better,” said Howard, who pushed her career point total to 2,279, 29 shy of Trecia Watson’s 2,308 at No. 6 on the Bearettes’ all-time scoring chart. “Now, it’s the postseason and we can’t let up.”

In between the girls’ and boys’ game, seniors from both basketball teams and cheerleaders were honored and when Howard’s name was called she went down the sideline hugging each teammate and crying all the way.

“We had to make this special,” she said. “We could see that same team in regionals and we wanted to make a statement tonight.”

As for the Kentucky coach taking time to stop by to watch Howard play?

“I had to show him what I can do because I’ll be doing it for the next four years at Kentucky,” she said before ducking back into the locker room.

On Saturday, the Bearettes, who have won 58 of their last 59 games, kept their eye on the immediate prize and used a 24-1 first half run to open a 38-10 lead in the second quarter.

Buckets by Howard, Cambree Mayo (a 3), two Walker free throws and two free throws and a 3 from Alexis Barnes, triggered the offensive tidal wave that produced a 25-9 first-quarter lead.

With a 53-21 cushion, the Lady Panthers scored six straight points on a mini-run, but the Bearettes responded with 15 in a row and were up 68-26 with one quarter left.

Barnes finished with 10 points and Mayo added nine, barely missing give the Bearettes a fifth player in double digits.

“That one loss last year was very humbling,” Hughes said. “Our eyes are wide open and we know what we’ve done, but we did good last year and it ended with a hard loss. Every game we go into now we’re saying, 'This is our next game, but it could be our last game.’ ”

Reuter only has to mention the Stewarts Creek loss to get his players’ attention.

“It still jars our memories,” he said. “The 32-and-oh record last season is something we can always be proud of, but I’ve heard people say it doesn’t matter until it comes to tournament time. That’s usually coming from someone that’s losing a lot.

“It does matter. You show me someone 15-15 right now and they’re probably not going to be around for the region finals. We’re not satisfied with 26-and-oh. We have to stay hungry, stay humble and keep hustling.”

Alex Eldridge scored 11 points for the Lady Panthers.

Boxscore

Stone Memorial                    9 6 11 7 – 33  

Bradley Central                   25 21 22 12 – 80

Stone Memorial (33) – Alex Eldridge 11, Johnson 1, Selby 6, Capps 9, Boyd 2, Namba, Buck, Freitag, Roark 1, Bowman, Miller 3.

Bradley Central (80) – Kaleigh Hughes 17, Mayo 9, Rhyne Howard 17, Anna Walker 16, Lombard, Williams, Roberts, Reuter, Blair 8, Alexis Barnes 10, Carman 2, Hullender, Muhonen 1.

3-Point Goals – Stone Memorial 4 (Selby 2, Eldridge 1, Capps 1), Bradley Central 7 (Hughes 3, Howard 2, Mayo 1, Barnes 1).

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

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