CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The girls' matchup Tuesday at Bradley Central was between the No. 2-ranked Class AAA high school team in the state against the No. 5 team. But one look at the final result and one might think the second-ranked Bearettes played the No. 55 team in the state.
Led by 38 points from Kentucky signee Rhyne Howard, Bradley Central coasted past East Hamilton 63-36 in a game that puts the Bearettes firmly in control in the race for first place in the district regular-season standings.
Bradley (21-0) is 8-0 with four league games remaining and every other 5-AAA team having at least three district losses. East Hamilton fell to 5-3 in league play.
Within the first 40 seconds Howard scored the game's first five points and had seven of the 10 when East Hamilton coach Hunter Gremore called an early timeout with his team down seven. The break may have slowed the Bearettes temporarily, but by the time Jamaryn Blair hit a 3-point shot from out front with 4:39 to go in the first half, Bradley's lead was 24-9.
"We weren't ready," Gremore said. "You do that against a team like that, you're going to get beat by 30. You can step on the floor and do that against some teams and be OK. Not them."
Bradley coach Jason Reuter said a team obviously always wants to play well from the start, but in games like this it's especially so.
"With it in our home gym, we expected to get off to a good start," Reuter said. "We'd have been disappointed if we didn't. We knew they were capable of beating us if they played well. I thought we practiced well for them and thought we had a good game plan. They have a good team. We may very well see them again."
With the score 29-18 at halftime, East Hamilton got a three-point play from Madison Hayes to start the second-half scoring. But after Cambree Mayo answered with a 3-pointer from the left corner, the Lady Hurricanes were never within single digits again.
"I'm disappointed in the way we competed," Gremore said. "We very, very rarely do what we were doing. We were selfish at times. Rhyne is a great player. You can't leave her open. We did some uncharacteristic things. Still, we're 19-3. But teams with 19 wins don't do some of the things we did tonight."
Howard's total came on 14-of-17 shooting from the field, including 7-of-10 from behind the arc, and she made three of four free throws.
"One of the main reasons Rhyne Howard had such a good game was because of her teammates," Reuter said. "They played very unselfish. They screened for her. They got the ball to her. She is blessed to have the teammates she has, and she'll be the first to tell you that."
Hayes led the Lady 'Canes in scoring and De'Zah Lacy was next, but Reuter was clearly pleased with their combined total.
"Our defense holding Hayes to 16 and Lacy to nine, I'll take that," Reuter said. "They were a combined 7-for-22 shooting. We hang our hat on defense."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.