HIGH SCHOOL

Bearden girls top Farragut to continue hot start

Chris Thomas
USA TODAY Network - Tennessee

Bearden High School's girls basketball team continued its blistering start to the season with a 68-37 victory over Farragut on Friday at Farragut High School.

The proof is in the record books.

Trinity Lee led all scorers with 19 points as the visiting Lady Bulldogs set the program's new standard with 18 consecutive wins to begin the season.

Bearden's 1981 and 1999 squads set the previous record of 17-0.

"I think it's a testament to these young ladies and how unselfish they are. We've got a lot of girls that could probably average more points, more rebounds, more individual accolades, but they buy into playing to the concepts. It's a great group of young ladies that just want to do one thing, and that's win."

Bearden (18-0, 9-0 District 4-AAA) blistered Farragut with its ball movement and sizable advantage in the post. Freshman Jakhyia Davis (6-foot-2) had eight points and 10 rebounds, and junior Grace van Rij scored 14 points with seven boards.

Jalia Arnwine added eight points for the Lady Bulldogs, building toward their third state tournament berth in five years.

Bearden shot 45.2 percent (14-for-31) in the first half to build a 35-18 lead at the break. It outscored Farragut 18-6 in the second quarter and led by as many as 32 in the second half.

Brooke Christian led Farragut (8-9, 3-5) with 14 points and Morgan Carbaugh added 13.

"They're a great basketball team," Farragut coach Jason Mayfield said, "and we didn't execute our game plan at all."

Williams Enjoys "being good guy": Life is hectic for Bearden assistant Abby Evans Williams, but it's not as bad as if she still was a head coach.

Williams, a Halls graduate, returned to Bearden as an assistant during the offseason after a successful three-year run at South-Doyle, which won 20 games for the first time since 2002-03 last season. Williams resigned to focus on family time. She last coached at Bearden in 2012-13.

"Justin offered me a deal in August that I couldn't pass up," Williams said. "It's been nice being the good guy every once in a while. It's good to be back. Life's busy - I've got a 4-month old and an almost 3-year-old - but it's good."

Chris Thomas covers high school sports. Follow him at twitter.com/christhomaskns.

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