Somehow Brooke McCurdy kept finding herself alone, unguarded outside the 3-point line and able to launch bombs repeatedly without much harassment.
Girls Preparatory School’s talented guard made Harpth Hall pay for it each time, connecting on three key 3-pointers in the third quarter – and six total treys for the game – to help the Bruisers pull away for a 53-34 win over the visiting Honeybears in the Division II-AA state tournament’s first round Tuesday night.
“I was really excited before the game, and once I found my shot early, it gave me a lot of confidence,” said McCurdy, who scored a game-high 24 points.
McCurdy got the GPS offense going early with back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter but failed to score the rest of the half. She picked up the pace in the third quarter, answering two scoring runs by Harpeth Hall that cut the Bruisers’ lead to five and pushing the advantage back out to eight. Her final 3 of the quarter came just before the buzzer and extended the lead to 12.
The Bruisers (15-13) maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round, when they will play in the Memphis area at Briarcrest. It’s the first time in four years GPS has advanced past the first round of the state tournament.