EVENSVILLE, Tenn. – The members of Bradley Central’s girls’ basketball team who returned from last season have waited a year to be back where they are now. Or more precisely, they’ve worked for a full year to get back to where they are now.
And where they are now is on the brink of hosting a TSSAA state sectional Saturday after the Bearettes defeated East Hamilton 74-31 in the Region 3-AAA championship game Wednesday night at Rhea County.
It was in last year’s sectional that Bradley, 32-0 at the time, saw its season come to an end one game short of reaching the state tournament because of a loss to Stewarts Creek. This time, No. 2-ranked Bradley (31-0) gets Blackman, which ended Stewarts Creek’s season 51-47 in a Region 4 semifinal before losing 70-47 to No. 1 Riverdale in Wednesday’s region final.
“I think we might’ve been more motivated had it been Stewarts Creek,” Jason Reuter said after winning his seventh region title in eight years as Bradley’s head coach.
Rhyne Howard, who was selected MVP of the Region 3 tournament, said Reuter has a reminder hanging up at Bradley that the players can see every day to caution them about what happened last year.