The Brainerd girls defeated Sequoyah Friday night in a Region 3-3A first round game, 49-44. The Lady Panthers move on to play McMinn Central Monday night in a semifinal contest. The game will be played at Brainerd with 7:00 p.m. tip.
photo by Joseph Dycus
ruises, blood, and bludgeoning would not stop Raijeria Bell from coming through in the final minute. After leaving the game for several minutes because of a cut under her left eye, she came back with a new jersey and the same intensity she always plays with. Holding a slim 43-42 lead against Sequoyah, Bell embodied the definition of “taking it strong to the cup,” going down the middle and shrugging off the foul to power in a layup. She nailed the free throw and thus pushed the lead to a two-possession game.
The Panthers held on to defeat the visiting lady Indians 49-44 to advance in the playoffs.
“I’m gonna be honest; this entire team is tough,” Brainerd coach Stanley Jackson said. “I don’t really have a weak link in the chain because all of these girls are mentally and physically tough. They come through for me, and I love these kids because they deal with adversity every day.”
The Lady Indians quickly took a 5-2 lead when Lynsey Gunter nailed a triple from the wing on their first possession, and then Brooklyn James ripped away an offensive rebound to score two more. But Brainerd started chugging after this, with Le’Niya Mason slicing through the Lady Indian defense for two straight layups, the second in transition after she saw that no one had thought to cover the backside.
Do-everything wing Arteya Scott blocked shots, pushed the pace, and knocked down free throws to round out their game plan. B4 scored the last eight points of the quarter on a layup, a putback, and finally a three pointer from the wing to give Brainerd a commanding 18-5 lead against an Indians team that couldn’t seem to get anything going. While Hanna Carroll ripped two moonballs through the net to bring Sequoyah within seven to start the quarter, Brainerd was generally overpowering, as Bell punctuated the half with two displays of skill.
On the first drive, she maneuvered around a screen and into the soft spot in the defense, where she took an eight foot floater. On the second, she planted herself in the paint and waited for a miss. When that chance came, she grabbed the board and put it back to send Brainerd to the halftime locker room up 27-14.
But the Lady Indians didn’t just roll over and die while miles away from their homecourt. Instead, they turned the second half into a bloodbath of fouls, free throws, turnovers, and clutch shotmaking. Sequoyah’s Gunter put in ten of her game-high 13 in the second half, including a run of layups where her well-timed cuts left her all alone under the basket for easy points. Jesee Weese was also huge for Sequoyah, scoring ten of twelve and hitting the basket right before Bell’s aforementioned layup.
“We were in foul trouble, so we had to not play as intensely as we wanted to,” coach Jackson said. “But once we realized what time it was in the fourth quarter, when it was win or go home time, we went ahead and did what we had to do.”
But even though the visitors played a gutsy game, they hardly played a perfect second half. Aside from turnovers, the Lady Indians can look to their abysmal 5-20 shooting from the free throw line as the reason they lost the game. While they were missing free throws, the Brainerd Panthers regained their composure. Tyliyah Ward was slippery but also under control on her forays to the basket, where she would often break out a shifty euro-step to get around defenders.
The fourth quarter was one big basket after another, but once the game slowed down and Sequoyah had to make their free throws, their attack ground to a halt. Meanwhile, Bell and Scott provided just enough offense at the end of the game to close out the victory.
“This group has just refused to lose for the last three games,” coach Jackson said. “They continue to fight through adversity.”
Summary:
SEQUOYAH 05 09 20 10 - 44
BRAINERD 18 09 08 14 - 49
Sequoyah (44) - Underwood 3, Lynsey Gunter 13, Carroll 6, Jesee Weese 12, James 8, Watson 2.
Brainerd (49) - Raijeria Bell 10, Wood 8, Frances Wright 12, Scott 9, Le’Niya Mason 10.
3-POINT GOALS: Sequoyah 6 (Gunter 2, Carroll 2, Weese, Underwood); Brainerd 1 (Wright).
(Contact the author at Joseph.a.dycus@gmail.com)