CLEVELAND, Tenn. – One of the biggest and most important goals for the Bradley Central Bearettes this season was to advance to the TSSAA State Tournament with hopes of defending their Class AAA title they won a year ago.
They will get that chance after withstanding a furious challenge from the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats on Saturday night here at Bradley’s Jim Smiddy Arena.
It was a spirited crowd on both sides and Tullahoma even brought their pep band, but all of the celebration when the final horn had sounded belonged to the young ladies in gold uniforms with the black numbers.
The Bearettes advanced to Murfreesboro with Saturday’s 72-64 victory and improved to 29-3 with the win.
Bradley coach Jason Reuter was especially pleased with the win that didn’t come as easy as one might have expected.
“We played a really tough schedule this year to get ready for games like this, but I felt like we had to win tonight to validate our season,” Reuter said following the game.
“This game could have gone either way, but this is the one we had to win. It was a gut check there in the fourth quarter, but we practice shooting free throws every day and it paid off tonight.
“We certainly didn’t play a perfect game, but our size was the difference. We got off to a good start and I thought we played pretty good basketball with the game on the line late.
“Now we can focus on those games in Murfreesboro. We aren’t going there for a vacation, but we just have to lock in and focus with the goal of winning three more games,” Reuter added.
The Lady Wildcats never led as Anna Walker scored five of her game-high 25 points in the first two minutes. Tullahoma got a steal and a layup from Kailyn Farrell with 2:22 left in the opening stanza for the only tie at 9-9, but the Bearettes finished the quarter on a 8-1 run for a seven-point lead when the first stanza ended.
Tullahoma did a great job overall against Bradley, but they didn’t have an answer for the scrappy Walker, who has been a leader for the Bearettes all season and has already committed to play for Chattanooga’s Lady Mocs next fall.
“We were able to battle it out and I think we just wanted it more,” Walker said with a smile on her face.
“Winning a game like this can only boost our confidence, but our goals haven’t changed. We’re looking forward to going back to MTSU this week,” she added.
Tullahoma coach Cody McMurtry loved the effort his girls gave, but he felt like the first half may have been the difference in the game.
“I’m always pleased with our effort, but we just didn’t do enough in the first half. We came over here tonight really thinking we could win this game, but Bradley played exceptionally well. We got in a situation where we had to foul late and they were able to hit a bunch of free throws,” McMurtry said.
Bradley had a great night shooting the basketball as they hit 10 of 13 field goals in the second half and 23 of 37 for the game for a blistering 62.2 percent. The Bearettes were even better from long range as they made seven of 11 for 63.6 percent. And they added 19 of 24 free throws for 79.2 percent, including 10 of 12 in the final two minutes with the game on the line.
Julia Duncan, who scored 23 points to lead Tullahoma, converted a three-point play with 3:47 to play and added two more free throws when Reuter was whistled for a technical, allowing the Lady Wildcats to cut the lead to two points at 60-58.
Walker made it a four-point game with a layup at the 2:21 mark while the Bearettes finished the game at the free throw line. Meanwhile, Farrell converted a three-point play and Duncan sank another 3 in the final minute, but it was simply too little too late.
“I’ve never gotten a technical for yelling at my own player, but I guess the referee thought I was yelling at him,” Reuter explained later.
Walker’s 25 points were tops for Bradley while Alexis Barnes was next with 16. Sloan Carpenter and Kelsey Carman were also in double figures with 10 points each.
Duncan’s 23 topped the Tullahoma scoring list while Farrell finished with 18 and Jessica Edde 10.
Bradley also won the rebound battle by a 24-21 margin as Walker snagged nine for the Bearettes and Tyana Hardin five for the Lady Wildcats.
The Bearettes will find out who their first-round opponent will be on Sunday afternoon.
Tullahoma’s season ends at 25-10.
GAME SUMMARY
TULLAHOMA 10 18 12 24 -- 64
BRADLEY 17 19 16 20 -- 72
TULLAHOMA (64) – Bowman 4, Edde 10, Duncan 23, Hardin 5, Farrell 18, Nutt, Neese 1, Buckner 3, Scott.
BRADLEY (72) – Carpenter 10, Mayo 9, Barnes 16, Walker 25, Muhonen 2, Carman 10, Crittenden.
3-POINT GOALS: Tullahoma 8-15 (Edde 3, Duncan 2, Hardin, Farrell, Buckner); Bradley 7-11 (Carpenter, Mayo 2, Barnes, Walker, Carman 2).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)