Bradley Shrugs Off Horrendous Shooting To Beat Lebanon, 34-26, In State Tournament

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Atrocious shooting could have – maybe should have -- doomed Bradley Central’s basketball team Thursday.

Yet, it didn’t.

Missing the first 13 shots is hard to overcome for any team.

But the Bearettes shrugged off their nightmarish first half – they scored three first-quarter points and made just 3-of-23 shots before halftime when they trailed 10-9 in a shooting effort that barely registered at 13 percent – and regrouped to pull out a 34-26 victory over Lebanon in the TSSAA Class 3A girls’ state tournament quarterfinals at Middle Tennessee State University.

“I thought we were going to set some Murphy Center records,” Bradley Central coach Jason Reuter said. “I’m sure somewhere in the history of this building (Murphy Center) there has been lower scoring. It sure wasn’t a Mona Lisa.”

The Bearettes (32-3), who have won 12 games in a row, advanced to the semifinals for the third time in four years and will face Oak Ridge (34-2) at 2:45 p.m. CST.

The Lady Wildcats routed Science Hill, 65-49, and placed four players in double figures. Jada Guinn, a Miss Basketball finalist (East Hamilton’s Madison Hayes won the award), led the way with 17 points.

Bradley Central lost to Houston in the 2018 semifinals and to Oak Ridge in 2017.

“We’ve played Oak Ridge before but we never need to be super-comfortable with who we’re playing,” junior post Anna Walker said. “Honestly, we can’t go back and do last year when we thought, ‘Hey, we played Houston (and got a 59-43 win) earlier in the year think we should be OK. We can’t do that.”

For three quarters, both teams were in a race to the cellar in offensive production. The game was tied 23-23. The Devilettes had a 17-11 lead and Bradley connected on five straight buckets, including 3s by Blair and Kaleigh Hughes, that enabled the Bearettes to hang level with Lebanon.

Reuter, his players and a throng of fans, mostly students, didn't know what was coming next after their terrible first quarter when Cambree May's 3-pointer from the left with 5.7 seconds on the clock was the team's only offense.

That was by far Bradley Central’s most effective stretch shooting the ball.

There was nothing positive about either team’s first-half shooting performance.

“You’d think I’d be kicking chairs, but I felt pretty good,” Reuter said. “We were 3-for-23 and we got an all-region point guard sitting on the bench for 13 minutes. We didn’t panic. Lebanon fought us hard, but when it came down to crunch time you didn’t see us make many mistakes.”

In large part because the Bearettes (31-3) reached down for their ace-in-the-hole – their tenacious smackdown defense.

“Thank the Lord for defense,” Reuter said. “The kids just never quit playing defense and I think our gas tank was a little bit deeper than Lebanon’s. Their kids got tired. He (Lebanon coach Cory Barrett) called one or two timeouts just for fatigue reasons. I called one, but no more because I wanted his kids to stay on the floor.

“Defense has been a trend for us maybe in the last seven games. We’ve been going more full-court man and trying to wear people down. Maybe we don’t get them until the fourth quarter, but when they finally hit the wall, we have a little more gas than they do. Hey, it takes something out of us too.”

Both teams used nine players.

Barrett compared the two talented, hard-hitting boxers getting together.

“It was almost like a heavyweight fight,” he said. “That first half may have been sore on the yes, but I thought it was great. Both teams were battling and you can’t ask more in a high school game. Both teams made halftime adjustments. With three minutes to go it’s probably down to one or two possessions and we just couldn’t finish it out. We had some turnovers late and that hurt us.”

Lebanon’s 26-point production ties the fourth all-time lowest Class 3A total in the state tournament since the TSSAA went to three classifications in 1976. Powell also scored 26 in a 29-point loss to Mt. Juliet in 2005.

The third-lowest is Maryville’s 25 points in 1999. Second-fewest points (23) were put up by Jefferson against Riverdale in 1979.

And the lowest?

Hixson’s 16 points in a 40-point loss to Bradley Central in 1976.

The Devilettes’ Lindsey Freeman started the final period with a shot jump shot for a 25-23 lead.

With their defense smothering Lebanon, making its first state tourney appearance in 37 years, the Bearettes went to work.

Point guard Jamaryn Blair, who picked up two quick fouls and played only three-plus minutes in the opening half, drove the baseline for a contested layup, tying the game at 25-all at the 5:42 mark.

Hannah Lombard, who had eight points, made four straight free throws in less than a minute and the Bearettes had breathing room at 29-25 with 1:24 left.

“I felt calm at the line,” Lombard said. “That sounds weird to say, but I really was. I had to make those free throws to push out the score.”

Said Blair, “After those four free throws we felt good, but knew the game wasn’t over. But they did give us more confidence and it felt like we could pull this thing out.”

Sixteen seconds after Lombard’s charity tosses, Blair got a steal near mid-court and was fouled. A late-game free-throw making machine of late, Blair dropped in a pair and the Bearettes were up 31-25 with just 68 seconds remaining.

Blair had long forgotten the team’s horrendous first-half shooting.

“It’s really frustrating when your shots aren’t falling,” she said. “It’s a different court, a different view with no back-drop. You had to focus on the goal. The refs weren’t calling anything and that’s why we were settling for jump shots. I started inside and pulling out if I had to.”

Lebanon (25-11) broke a six-minute scoring drought with Alissa Mulaski’s free throw. She missed the second attempt and came up with the ball. Anna Walker blocked her shot and that turned into Lombard hitting 1 of 2 free throws.

On Lebanon’s next possession, Walker blocked another Mulaski layup. Walker finished with six of the Bearettes’ nine blocked shots.

Hughes was fouled and made both free throws with 6.9 seconds left for the final margin.

Over the final 3 minutes and 17 seconds, the Bearettes went 9-for-10 at the free-throw line.

Blair led Bradley’s scoring with nine points on 3-for9 shooting.

Lombard had eight points and hit 1 of 5 from the floor.

Walker was 3-for-10 and 0-for-3 from 3-point distance and scored six points.

“It was physical down low at the beginning,” Walker said. “I started using my quickness on some slower people to help get me open. If they double- and triple-teamed me, someone had to be open on the perimeter.”

Not a single player finished with double-figure scoring. Addie Porter led Lebanon with eight points and 10 rebounds. Aaryn Grace Lester had seven points and Freeman added six.

One stat that caught Reuter’s eye in the post-game interview room was turnovers.

Bradley forced 15.

The Bearettes committed just three.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever left this building with a team that made only three turnovers,” Reuter said.

Note: Bradley has played Lebanon five times, with three meetings coming in the state tournament. The Bearettes beat the Devilettes in the 1975 state championship game, in the 1970 semifinals to go along with Thursday’s quarterfinal victory. The other Bradley win came in the 1987 Sectional. All those games were in the Jim Smiddy Era. 

Scoring Summary

Lebanon                       4 6 13 3 – 26

Bradley Central            3 6 14 11 – 34

Lebanon (26) – Addie Porter 8, Freeman 6, Lester 7, Mulaski 1, Brookshire 4, James, Heidebreicht, Brown, Harris.

Bradley Central (34) – Hughes 5, Roberts 2, Jamaryn Blair 9, Walker 6, Lombard 8, Williams 1, Reuter, Mayo 3, Barnes.

3-Point Goals – Lebanon 2 (Porter 1, Lester 1), Bradley Central 4 (Hughes 1, Blair 1, Lombard 1,  Mayo 1).

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming 44)