MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — For the third straight season, the Bradley Central Bearettes opened their time at the TSSAA’s BlueCross Basketball Championships by taking down a previously unbeaten foe in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
This time, the challenge was far greater than any the Bearettes, ranked as the nation’s No. 4 girls’ basketball team by MaxPreps.com, had seen in quite a while.
Coach Jason Reuter’s squad, seeking the program’s ninth state title overall and third in a row, toughed out a 53-44 win over Coffee County on Thursday night at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center, the first game all season against an in-state opponent in which Bradley Central did not won by at least 17 points.
Senior point guard Malia Wilcox provided timely assists, with three of her game-high five setting up second-half 3-pointers by senior shooting guard Avary Brewer. Samford University signee Brewer made all three of her long-range attempts in the second half, which included back-to-back bombs from the left corner to start the third quarter and another from the right corner with 2:31 left to play to build a 47-39 lead.
“Avary runs the baseline and shoots the 3 as good as anyone I have ever coached,” Reuter, in his 15th season leading the Bearettes, said of a player who has made 87 of 190 attempts from behind the arc this season. “They do a great job of getting the ball to her.