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.”