Anna Walker of Bradley Central's works on Oak Ridge's Shatyrah Copeland on Friday in the TSSAA girls' state Class 3A semifinal game at Middle Tennessee State University. Walker scored 18 points with seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the Bearettes' 56-50 overtime victory to reach Saturday's championship game against Houston.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – There was a different outcome to the second TSSAA Class 3A state tournament semifinal pitting Bradley Central and Oak Ridge.
Bradley Central won.
It was not an easy outcome, though.
Bearettes point guard Jamaryn Blair made a power drive under duress on the right side and made a running layup to tie the game at 43-43 and send the combatants to overtime.
Bradley Central outscored the Lady Wildcats, 12-3, in overtime and posted a hard-earned 56-50 victory that advanced the Bearettes to their first state championship game since 1995.
The Bearettes (33-3), snapping Oak Ridge’s 31-game winning streak, will take on Houston (31-2) at Middle Tennessee State University at 1:30 p.m. CST for all the marbles. Bradley Central is going for its sixth state title, but first since 1976.
Houston knocked off three-time defending champion Riverdale, 78-72, in double overtime in the semifinal preceding the Bradley-Oak Ridge contest.
“I was hoping the Houston game would go three or four overtimes,” Bradley Central coach Jason Reuter said.
Reuter and his Bearettes were in a much better frame of mind than last year and 2016 when they were eliminated in the semifinals by Houston and Oak Ridge, respectively.
“In 2016, Paige (Redman, the Oak Ridge coach and former Bearette who played on the 1995 team that lost to Shelbyville in the title game) was sitting here (winner’s side of interview room) and we were over there,” Reuter said. “You have to stay humble.”
Reuter is in his ninth season with the Bearettes and a 266-32 record shows his rate of success.
So, to get the state finalist monkey off his back is significant.
“I wasn’t at Bradley Central in 1995, I was a boys’ assistant coach at Meigs County,” Reuter says. “I was living in Cleveland and being a Lee University graduate I was well aware of what was going on at Bradley. To say I’m proud right now is an understatement.
“The basketball gods have a way of evening things out. There is such a fine line between winning and losing and they were on our side tonight. These kids made a lot of plays. I didn’t do anything to win this game. They made the plays.”
Getting past Oak Ridge (34-3) this time meant the Bearettes had to get the best of their long-time nemesis. Bradley’s head-to-head record (15-26) against the Lady Wildcats is the worst of any opponent on the school’s all-time list.
Reuter spoke frankly about the final minutes of regulation play when Oak Ridge had a 36-31 lead with going into the fourth quarter.
“It looked like the hour glass was running out,” he said. “I never gave up and didn’t think we couldn’t beat them, but it didn’t look good.”
Walker made a short bank shot but Oak Ridge’s Brianna Dunbar hit two free throws.
Walker made two charity tosses. She then hit one of her patented spin and moves to the bucket for a layup.
“Coach Reuter shows us a lot of post moves when we come in as freshmen,” Walker said. “This has been a foundational thing. Sometimes you have to fee-style it, but mostly it’s about coaching and determining whether you go left or right, depending on how they’re guarding you.”
The Lady Wildcats’ Shatyrah Copeland scored a basket and Blair made one of two free throws.
Khamari Mitchell-Steen hit one toss, giving the Lady Wildcats a 43-29 advantage with 38.9 seconds left. Cool-headed Blair connected on two free throws. After a free-throw miss, Bradley called timeout with 10.8 seconds showing.
When the left side of Oak Ridge’s defense appeared in good position, the cat-quick Blair drove around and went up strong for the clutch game-tying bucket.
“I had in my mind to make something work; you have to go and something’s got to give,” she said. “I saw an opening and said, ‘I’m going to take this.’ After I tied it up, it was like we can go on and win this thing.”
Said Reuter on Blair’s heroics, “Jamaryn makes a coach look good,”
However, there was an overtime period to play and, as the veteran Bearettes’ coach said, “This game could have gone either way.”
It went with Bradley Central.
Walker used the same effective move, this time going left, to start the overtime scoring. Blair hit one free throw and the Bearettes’ lead was 50-45. Oak Ridge’s Jada Quinn, a Miss Basketball finalist who scored 15 points, dropped in a layup.
Kaleigh Hughes, who had a 1-for-8 shooting night, made a free throw and so did Hannah Lombard, who went 5-for-6 at the line. Blair dropped in two more charity tosses to give the Bearettes a 54-47 lead.
Guinn knocked down a 3 with 3.8 seconds left.
Lombard made two and time ran out.
Redman and her top players finished up an interview with Oak Ridge press members, speaking barely above a whisper.
Asked her thoughts on the stinging loss, she said, “It’s hard for my team because we’ve had such a great year, My two seniors (Copeland and Guinn) are special and I hate it came down to one game and ends this way. They’ll look back later and be proud of what we did, but it’s still tough.”
Asked if she had any memories on what the 1995 Bearettes did, Redman, said, “It’s hard for me to think about that right now. My focus is on my girls. It’s a great privilege to be in (Bradley’s) position (Saturday). It’s a quick turnaround and they’ll have to be focused and ready to go.”
The Bearettes, just as they have throughout the postseason, came through in the clutch at the free-throw line. Against Oak Ridge, they went 20-for-25 for 80 percent. Oak Ridge was 9-for-15.
“You can miss five or six in a row,” Reuter said, “but the next one might be a game-winner. You cannot show fear because fear will paralyze you. You can’t play sports with fear. That was the key tonight.”
A coach can’t be resistant to listening to a coach on his staff either.
Keith Freeman suggested in the second half Reuter take his team out of a man press and use a zone press. Reuter took that advice.
“It may have won the game for us,” Reuter said. “It changed the tempo and made Guinn give up the ball.”
Guinn, who also had 11 rebounds, is Oak Ridge’s go-to player.
Bradley Central’s guard Cambree Mayo defended Guinn most of the night.
Was she nervous about the pivotal assignment?
“I used to guard Rhyne Howard when I was a freshman,” she said. “That prepared me to go against anyone and you have to believe you can stop anyone.”
Scoring Summary
Oak Ridge 10 15 11 7 7 – 50
Bradley Central 15 13 3 12 13 – 56
Oak Ridge (50) – Khamari Mitchell-Steen 20, Dunbar 5, Eckles 2, Copeland 4, Jada Guinn 15, Davis 4.
Bradley Central (56) – Hughes 4, Roberts, Jamaryn Blair 22, Anna Walker 18, Lombard 7, Mayo 3, Williams 2, Reuter, Barnes.
3-Point Goals – Oak Ridge 3 (Mitchell-Steen 2, Guinn 1), Bradley Central 4 (Walker 2, Hughes 1, Mayo 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Bradley Central point guard Jamaryn Blair, a talented sophomore, made a living darting past Oak Ridge defenders for to make tough, contested layups in the Class 3A tournament semifinals at MTSU. Blair scored 18 points that included 10-of-13 at the free-throw line in a 56-50 overtime win.
photo by Dennis Norwood