CLEVELAND, Tenn. - One girls' high school basketball team remains undefeated in District 5-AAA. And in more ways than one.
East Hamilton stayed with host Bradley Central for almost a quarter Tuesday. Then the Bearettes began looking like the No. 2-ranked team in the state that they are and ultimately rolled to a 74-45 victory.
East Hamilton (11-10) was unbeaten through its six district games before Tuesday. Bradley improves to 8-0 in the district and 21-0 overall.
"The big deal about this one was it was for first place in the district," Bradley coach Jason Reuter said. "We've got a lot of respect for East Hamilton, but we thought we had the better team, so we're not going to overlook anybody. The best team doesn't always win."
The Lady Hurricanes never led. The only tie was at 2.
But the Bearettes didn't take off until they built on their 6-5 lead with a 13-0 run that started with Hannah Lombard making two free throws with 2:07 to go in the first quarter and concluded with Halle Hughes' layup for the first points of the second quarter.
"We started out shooting the ball poorly," Reuter said. "I don't think we took bad shots. We normally shoot the ball well. We were 20-0 coming in and there's a lot of factors why. That's one of them. But that's why we preach defense so much."
A 22-10 second quarter led to a 39-15 lead at halftime.
"We turned the ball over a lot," said East Hamilton coach Hunter Gremore, whose team had 36 turnovers by the home team's count. "We had talked about that before the game. If we handle their pressure, we've got a chance to be competitive. If we don't, it's going to get bad."
Hughes led the Bearettes with 29 points and eight steals. Rhyne Howard's all-around performance included 19 points, six steals and team highs of six rebounds, seven assists and two blocks.
They watched most of the fourth quarter as Bradley ended up outscoring East Hamilton 35-30 in the second half. Reuter gave credit to the Lady 'Canes for battling his team to the end.
"I'm proud of our kids in the second half," Gremore said. "We didn't quit. We had to figure something out in the second half. We had to learn how to compete."
It didn't help East Hamilton that Madison Hayes got in foul trouble and sat some of the second quarter and a lot of the third. She finished with 11 points. Dezah Lacy led with 15.
Gremore said the Lady 'Canes still have the goal of finishing in the top three in the district. Bradley's biggest foe now could be complacency.
"We've not had that many nights where we've come out flat," Reuter said. "Maybe two out of 20. That's not bad. I think we've got the type of leadership on this team that they're not going to let that happen."
* East Hamilton boys 68, Bradley Central 60: Noah Fager's four 3-point goals sparked the Hurricanes to a 24-9 lead after one quarter, and it became a matter of holding on from there.
DaVae Hughley's 23 points topped East Hamilton, which at 6-1 stays within a game of district-unbeaten Cleveland. Justin Dozier scored 20 over the last three quarters and Fager finished with 13.
Bradley's Cole Copeland scored 27 of his 35 points in the second half and ended up 13-of-15 from the free-throw line.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.