Bradley Central hosted Cleveland High for a varsity double header, and the Bears earned wins in both the boys and girls games.
The girls squads started the night off as Bradley quickly jumped out to a 9-2 lead. The Bradley girls took control of the paint early. While the Lady Raiders struggled from the field the Bearettes shot well from the perimeter and controlled the post. Bradley went to the locker room at halftime up 32-12 behind 14 first half points from University of Florida recruit Brooke Copeland.
It was more of the same in the second half as the short-handed Cleveland squad continued to shoot poorly and got overpowered on the boards and Bradley coasted ending the third quarter on a 13-0 run. Bradley shot well from the free-throw line all night and was in the double bonus by the end of the game and took the big win with a final score of 57-28. Brooke Copeland led all scorers with 23 and Jenna Scoggins led Cleveland with 10.
In part two of the night’s double header, the Bradley boys soundly defeated Cleveland. Both teams started out cold with no one scoring until the Blue Raiders put up two points midway through the quarter, and followed that by two free-throws. From there the Bears went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter.
Bradley moved the ball and rebounded well on both ends, but struggled from the perimeter in the second quarter, allowing the Raiders to close the gap and end the half with the Bears up 18-12. Both teams picked up the pace on offense in the third and, with about five minutes left in the quarter, Bradley’s Taylor Bentley put up 7 points in a row, as Bradley’s ball movement spread out the Cleveland defense allowing more shots in the paint. Cleveland did manage to score 16 in the third quarter but still entered the fourth down 12 points.
The final quarter opened up with the Bears up 43-31, as Bradley continued to control the lane, as they out rebounded the Raiders and continued to score in the paint. The final minutes were a hotly contested back and forth battle, with Bradley and Cleveland ultimately scoring 16 and 14 points respectively in the quarter as the Bears walked with the close call. The score ended close but wasn’t indicative of the game as a whole, as Bradley maintained control of the game most of the night.
The Raiders rallied in the final minutes but it was too little too late, as Kendrick Thompson fmissed some crucial free throws after being fouled from 3-point range, that could have cut the lead to one with under a minute to go.
Logan Cox led all scorers with 15 points that came from five 3-pointers, while Cantrel Ware led Cleveland with 14.
Box Scores:
Girls:
Bradley 9 23 11 14 -- 57
Cleveland 2 10 6 10 -- 28
Bradley (57) – Brooke Copeland 23, Rebecca Rueter 17, Lyndsy Davis 4, Emma Brown 4, Mady Stallings 3, Kayla Delaine 3, Chelsie Summars
Cleveland (28) – Jenna Scoggins 10, Nora Berry 7, Amber Morman 4, T. Phillips 3, Hallea McClendon 2
3-Point Goals: Bradley 3, Cleveland 3
Boys:
Bradley 13 5 16 11 -- 45
Cleveland 4 8 16 14 -- 42
Bradley (45) – Logan Cox 15, Taylor Bentley 9, Bradley McCurdy 7, Daniel Clark 5, Ty Morgan 4, Cole Copeland 3, Sam Gregory 2
Cleveland (42) – Cantrel Ware 14, Kendrick Thompson 7, Colby Tatum 6, Mason Brown 5, Anfernee Scott 4, Rod Denard 4
3-Point Goals: Bradley 8, Cleveland 5