CLEVELAND, Tenn. - There were numerous reasons Monday night to celebrate at Jim Smiddy Arena, the biggest of which was host Bradley Central's 75-49 victory over Stone Memorial in a girls' Region 3-AAA basketball semifinal.
In streaking to the 26-point win, the Bearettes gave coach Jason Reuter his 100th career home win (against just nine losses) and pushed their season win streak to 31 with no losses.
"It seems like good coaches always have good players, and we have good players at Bradley Central," Reuter said after his team ended Stone Memorial's season at 20-11.
Now the Bearettes will host the other Crossville team, Cumberland County, for the region championship at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Lady Jets beat White County 65-41 in the other semifinal.
Bradley led by 14 slightly more than halfway through the second quarter Monday, but the Lady Panthers, who held Bradley standout Rhyne Howard to four first-half points, chiseled the Bearettes' advantage to six with a 10-2 run to end the period.
"The kids knew this was an elimination game and everybody expected the big, bad Bearettes to be up by 18," Reuter said. "I told the kids to come out in the second half and take care of business, and our kids did that. We didn't put them away when we could have. It was almost a slow death in that second half."
By the end of the third period Bradley had extended the six-point lead to 19 and the only question remaining was how big the final margin would be.
"We definitely talked about shooting," senior guard Halle Hughes recalled of the team's halftime conversation. "If you're having a bad night, you have to get to the rim. And we talked about defense. We wanted to hold them under a certain amount."
What turned out to be a solid victory wasn't built on long-range bombs, the Bearettes crimping their season percentage by making just four of 17 3-pointers. They scored more than half of their points (40) in the paint - 18 on putbacks - and their quick-handed defense forced 26 turnovers.
"We didn't light it up from the 3-point line by any means, but this team is not built to live or die by the 3," Reuter said. "I told them if the shots weren't falling, let's get in the lane."
There were no ties and no lead changes.
"We definitely like coming out with the quick start," said Hughes, a Lee University signee who scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the first half. "When we hit some adversity, we just overcome it. We're focused on getting the lead."
The 6-foot-1 Howard, a junior, scored 10 second-half points to finish with 16 and added 10 rebounds, six steals - the Bearettes had 16 total - two assists and a blocked shot.
"She's so special to play with. We're very blessed to have her. She's a beast," Hughes praised.
Also scoring in double figures for Bradley were Emma Kate Brown with 15 pointes and Kimia Carter with 12. Carter added seven rebounds. Lexi Hinch scored 15 points and Tesa Johnson added 10 for Stone Memorial
"I'd give us a B-plus," Reuter said after the game. "We just won a semifinal by 26 against a team that had played us to a two-point game. That game back in December may have been a silver lining. It might have been best for us to win that one by two instead of 20.
"The streak? We don't really talk about it. We ignore it," Reuter said. "We set the same goals every year - win the district regular season, win whatever Thanksgiving tournament we play in, win our tournament, win the district tournament, win the region and win the state."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.