The District 5-AAA girls' high school basketball game Tuesday at East Hamilton between the Lady Hurricanes and Bradley Central was a hotly contested one for three quarters. Then in the fourth, it was the Bearettes who did most of the contesting.
In a tie game with one quarter to go, Bradley got its running game going and pulled away for a 38-24 victory.
Bradley (18-3, 8-0) still hasn't mathematically clinched first place in the district. But after having defeated second-place East Hamilton (17-6, 5-2) twice, Bearettes coach Jason Reuter admitted with four league games remaining his team is "in the driver's seat."
"I told the girls this was going to be our biggest road challenge of the year, and that has turned out, so far, to be the truth," Reuter said. "I'm glad to get this one behind us."
Since both teams are among the state's best in scoring defense, it comes as no surprise the score was 21-21 heading to the fourth quarter.
Bradley's Rhyne Howard got the fourth-quarter scoring started with a deep 3 and a basket down low. The Bearettes' next eight points came on fastbreak layups.
"The most high-percentage shot in basketball is a layup," East Hamilton coach Tony Williams said. "They made a bunch of layups in the fourth quarter because we had to extend our defense."
East Hamilton's last lead came when Destyne Black drove the right side of the lane for a layup with 4:49 to go in the third quarter. The Lady 'Canes did not make another field goal until reserve Haley Abernathy scored from 12 feet in the lane with 38 seconds to play.
"They're really good," Williams said of the Bearettes. "They've got good players. I think we had a good game plan, but once they got a little bit of a cushion, they spread it out and we couldn't hold the ball anymore. We wanted to keep the game in the 30s, and we did. We just didn't get there."
Howard was the game's only double-figure scorer, and she also contributed 10 rebounds and five steals.
"Rhyne Howard scoring 21 points," Reuter said, "that's like 35 in a regular-paced game.
"If I had Tony's team, I'd play me the same way. Some teams aren't able to slow it down because they turn it over. They've got enough kids that can handle the ball; it's hard to just double-team and trap them."
Halle Hughes added nine points for Bradley.
The Lady 'Canes were led by seven points each from Kyndall Caudle and Madison Hayes.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/ KelleySmiddie.