Cleveland Girls Top Rhea County, Earn 5-4A Season Title

Golden Eagles Edge Blue Raiders, 55-53

Saturday, February 10, 2024
Richard Roberts

The Cleveland Lady Raiders capped off a very good season of basketball Friday night inside Raider Arena as they captured the regular season basketball championship with a convincing 53-30 win over Rhea County.

The Lady 18-7 Raiders, who finished a perfect 6-0 in District 5-4A, will take the No. 1-seed into next week's tournament at Rhea County High School looking to capture their first title in 13 years.

The Cleveland boys once again found themselves on the outside looking in after holding the No. 9-ranked Golden Eagles at bay for some 26 minutes before a Rhea County run in the fourth quarter proved to be more than the Blue Raiders could hold off as they fell in the season finale, 55-52.

CLEVELAND GIRLS 53, ,RHEA COUNTY 30: The Lady Raiders showed from the opening tip they were going to be too much for the Rhea County girls to handle.

Junior Lauren Hurst led the way for the Cleveland girls topping the list of 11 Lady Raiders who added points to the final total with 13 points.

“It was a great accomplishment four our young ladies,” said Lady Raiders head coach Bianca Hensley of the top-ranked Lady Raiders. “Obviously, coming into (the season) we were very inexperienced, we had one starter. I'm very proud of our growth. We haven't won a district championship since 2010. It's a great feat, but the job is not done yet. We have another great opportunity to go to Rhea County and win a district championship.”

Cleveland piled in 18 first quarter points while holding the visitors to only three headed into the second quarter. While both teams lagged in the second eight minutes, the Lady Raiders still held a 23-13 lead at halftime.

In a strategic move hoping to reignite the Cleveland fire, Hensley pulled her starters in the third quarter in favor of the second line. The move paid off as the subs did the job turning over a solid lead to the starters when Hensley sent them back to the floor.

Holding a 38-22 lead to open the fourth quarter after a stellar job by the bench, the Lady Raiders powered to a 52-25 lead on the strength of a 14-0 run that put the game away.

“I thought tonight we got off to such a slow start. I don't know if it was a lack of focus, but our intensity level was very low. I did not like our effort early on (in the second half) and so I pulled them (the starters),” Hensley explained. “Our subs did a really good job of just competing. They put a lot of pressure on Rhea County and we got some steals. I put our starters back in and they played a lot better. I'm very pleased with the last few minutes of the fourth quarter.”

RHEA COUNTY BOYS 55, CLEVELAND 53: The season for the Blue Raiders has been one of fighting to the finish, but in the end not finishing.

Cleveland (6-16, 1-5 District 5-4A) controlled most every aspect of the game against Rhea County (25-6, 4-2), but in the end fell into a dry spell of missed opportunities and bad choices that eventually put the win on the side of the Golden Eagles.

The Rhea County win puts them in a tie with Walker Valley as both teams finished the season with a 4-2 district record.

“All year it's been like this. We just can't finish games. We've been in every game this year. We've been in every single game with the exception of Walker Valley and Bearden here. We're just not finishing,” said Blue Raiders head coach Reggie Tucker. “We were up 13 with five minutes left in the fourth. We took some bad shots. I told our guys if we win the quarter we win the game. We take care of the basketball we win the game. We did some uncharacteristic things down the stretch that hurt us. I don't think it beat us, but it hurt us. It gave them opportunities down the stretch.We didn't get stops when we needed to. We've got to learn from it. We've got to turn around and get back at it next week.”.

Aaron Smith scored 12 points to lead Cleveland, but the effort fell short as Rhea's Kyler Akin beat the Blue Raiders for 17.

The Raiders had upset on their mind as they pushed to an early 7-2 lead and closed out the first quarter with a 6-0 run that gave them a 15-10 lead headed into the second quarter.

Rhea fought back in the second eight minutes with a mid quarter rally that led to a 25-23 halftime lead in favor of the Blue Raiders.

Cleveland came back to life in the third quarter with a 9-0 run that put the Raiders out front 34-23. The quarter ended with the hosts holding a 46-34 advantage.

The Raiders held a 50-37 cushion minutes into the final eight minutes when the tide turned for Rhea.

The Eagles flew away on a 16-2 run that began with just over six minutes left to play and ended with 46 seconds left on the clock and Rhea holding a 53-52 lead.

After a Cleveland turnover on an inbounds throw with 13 seconds left to play, the Raiders were forced to send the Eagles to the free-throw line where Braylon Greer made it 55-52. A last second 3-point shot missed for Cleveland sealing the win for the Eagles.

“It's not over at all. We've just got to finish. We've got to learn how to finish games. I thought we out played them three and a half quarters,” said Tucker. “We got lackadaisical on a few passes. We got stuck on a couple of pin downs defensively when we didn't communicate. The we just took some bad shots. We'll go to the district meeting on Monday, find out who we play Tuesday and go from there.”

GIRLS SUMMARY