CLEVELAND, Tenn. - For one of the very few times this season, the Bradley Central girls' basketball team had to reach down deep.
Coach Jason Reuter couldn't make up his mind postgame beyond talent whether to call it grit, attitude, know-how, mindset or a combination thereof that spurred the Bearettes to a 59-47 victory over determined Cumberland County in the Region 3-AAA championship game Thursday night.
Regardless, Bradley Central remains undefeated going into sectional play Saturday. The state's No. 2-ranked Bearettes (32-0) will host 10th-ranked Stewarts Creek (22-6) at 7 p.m. Saturday. Cumberland County, meanwhile, will travel to Murfreesboro to play unbeaten Riverdale, which is ranked No. 1 nationally by USA Today.
Cumberland County, which entered the game with 19 consecutive wins, certainly issued a wake-up call to Bradley, which had beat the Lady Jets by 20-plus twice earlier this season.
"We just pulled out the refuse-to-lose- attitude," Bradley senior guard Halle Hughes said.
"I knew if we lost it, it wouldn't be because of a lack of effort," Reuter said. "Our kids just were not going to let us go down because of adversity or (lack of) effort."
The Bearettes stumbled mightily in the first two periods, turning the ball over 10 times and scoring only four fast-break points while converting just one of four free throws.
"We survived it and limped in (to halftime) up by one," Reuter said. "We cut our turnovers - just three in the second half - and that's why we won the second half."
"The first half was not Bearette ball at all," Hughes acknowledged. "We realized that we were rushing the ball and panicking. We relaxed in the second half."
If not for Emma Kate Brown's shooting - 3-for-4 from beyond the 3-point line - the Bearettes could have been in trouble. She finished with 15 points.
Bradley led by eight in the first half, but that was pared to 25-24 by the end of it. There were four lead changes in the first four minutes of the second half and Bradley wheezed through the third period, clinging to a two-point advantage (34-32).
Hannah Lombard made back-to-back two-footers, Brown hit a pair of free throws, Hughes went coast-to-coast and Carter nailed a big 3-pointer, and when Kailey McRee hit a two-footer with 1:55 left, the Bearettes finally had a double-digit lead (53-42).
"You can tell a senior-laden team," Reuter praised. "E.K. and Hughes; Sydney Morgan played her heart out, and Kimia Carter rebounded in the second half. She hit a big 3 and then hit crucial free throws (four of four) late in the game."
Morgan didn't score - she took only two shots - but she had four key assists. Hughes' 16 points led the Bearettes' scoring, and they got 13 from Rhyne Howard, who sat much of the first half with three fouls. She also tied with the smaller Hughes for the rebound lead with nine and added two blocks and two steals.
"It was a very tough game, very physical," said Howard, who seemed to hit the floor almost every time she touched the ball. "We had to stay focused. But there was never a doubt on this team. When I'm playing with this group, as talented as my teammates are, there are never any doubts."
Hughes, Howard and Brown were named to the all-tournament team along with Cumberland County's Gracee Dishman and Destiny Carlton. Dishman and Klaire Varney scored 14 points apiece, and Carlton had 13 plus seven rebounds.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-866-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.