A 34 point win would normally garner heaps of praise from the head coach of pretty much any other team. However, the six-time state champion Bearettes are simply not any other team.
After what head Bearettes head coach Jason Reuter considered a sub par performance, the Bradley Central girls revved up early in the second half and cruised to a 73-39 win over Hamilton Heights in the 23rd annual Holiday Classic basketball tournament hosted by Bradley Central.
The Classic, which has become a measuring stick for girls basketball has hosted nine different eventual state champions.
The win keeps the Bearettes perfect on the young season at 4-0. Hamilton Heights now stands at 7-4.
“Obviously, you win by 34 points most coaches would say,'Good job,'” said Reuter. “The last game we played against Knox Webb we shot 66% which was not realistic. Tonight we shot 39%. I think we're a little better than that.”
Kimora Fields and Harmonie Ware both scored 17 points in the win followed by Avary Brewer with 15. All 15 points from Brewer came from behind the 3-point arc. Hannah Jones added 10 markers to the final margin.
Evie Moore led The Lady Hawks with 14 points.
After struggling to find the basket early, the Bearettes found a bit of rhythm midway through the first quarter closing with a 7-2 run to lead 18-6 at the buzzer.
Fields opened the second eight minutes and Brewer launched a 3-pointer from the right corner to push the lead to 25-10. Fields and Grace Phillips followed up with 3s to push the advantage to 32-11 with just under four minutes left in the half. The Lady Hawks scored seven points to Bradley's six in the final three minutes, but still trailed 38-21 at the half.
“We came in up by 17 at halftime an I asked my girls, 'Did we leave some buckets out there. I thought we did.' We left buckets out there the first few minutes we wasted five or six trips that should have been layups, open shots,” said Reuter as he looked over the game stat sheet. “I'm going to praise them for this; I asked them at halftime to come out and end the game quickly with their energy and they did. I think we scored the first 18 points.”
The Bearettes did exactly what Reuter asked to open the third quarter. Fields opened with a 2-pointer and followed up with back-to-back 3s. Hannah Jones and Ware also added points to the 20-point quarter. Defensively, the Bearettes held the Hawls to a single trey with 30 seconds left in the third.
Reuter cleared his bench in the final eight minutes as Love Howard was good for a 3 while Love Howard and starter Sloan Carpenter helped close out the win.
Reuter said he was happy with the win, but the Bearettes have work yet to do.
“We didn't get anybody hurt. We got to play everybody. Can we play better? Absolutely. Hamilton Heights, give them credit. They kept fighting. But, when we came out the second half I think the gas light came on,” he said.
“We've just got to clean up some things and not have unforced turnovers and keep improving. We're starting a freshman and two sophomores. That's rare territory for the Bearettes. Somebody said they thought we're playing tournament ball already the way we look, I don't think so. I've been doing this too long, we've got too many intangibles we've got to clean up. But I'm proud of my girls.”
Summary
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 6 15 3 15 — 39
BRADLEY CENTRAL 18 20 20 15 — 73
HAMILTON HEIGHTS (39) — Mimms 8, Angelovski, Jugovic 2, Curtis 4, Evie Moore 14, Baird 4, Chubb 2, Wright 4, Hickman 1.
BRADLEY CENTRAL (73) — Kimora Fields 17, Carpenter 4, Avary Brewer 15, Harmonie Ware 17, Hannah Jones 10, Phillips 3, Francis, Wilcox 4, White, Howard, Osborn Geren.
3-point goals: Hamilton Heights 3 (Mimms 2, Moore; Bradley Central 9 (Brewer 5, Ware 2, Phillips, Howard).
Records: Hamilton Heights 7-4; Bradley Central 4-0.